Portugal only has 14.4% of technological women: PWIT attracts “techgirls” in schools – Technologies
In Portugal, only one in ten professionals in the world of technology is a woman, already pointed out – shortly before the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic – the study “Pionners”, by the Portuguese Women in Tech (PWIT) community, in the one that was the first portrait of women in this sector in our country.
A conclusion confirmed by Eurostat, which points out that the female element represents only 14.4% of the workforce in the Information Technologies area, a number that is below the European average.
More: according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, the economic gap between men and women has widened, one of the causes being the reduced number of women occupying positions in technology, an area that has seen substantial growth.
To get around this gender imbalance, the Portuguese Women in Tech community launches this Tuesday, 23 November, in partnership with E-Redes, an initiative it called Future PWIT and which aims to inspire young Portuguese players to follow a technological career, aiming to achieve, in 10 years, a greater gender balance in the sector.
“In the coming months, a PWIT Futuro will provide a complete program of content to be distributed to schools from the north to the south of the country. work to be used in the context of the classroom, including inspirational material and practical exercises, “says PWIT, in a statement.
“Believing that one of the factors that plays a more important role in attracting more women to technology is having role models,” Future PWIT will also promote “success stories, with reporting videos to women with different profiles and experiences that have a remarkable trajectory in the field in Portugal”.
Liliana Ferreira (general director of Fraunhofer Portugal), Verónica Orvalho (founder and CEO of MyDidimo), Anabela Ferreira (senior agile business analyst at Natixis) and Margarida Henriques (business unit director at E-Redes) are some of the names participating in this initiative.
Future PWIT wants to reach many students, aged 10 to 18, in 800 school clusters
Created in 2016, having already promoted a series of initiatives with a view to attracting more women to the technological area, as well as supporting professionals already working in this area, PTWT intends with this new action to “reach out to 10 female students and students at age 18, in about 800 school clusters, “assuming that it mainly aims to “attract young women”.
“With Future PWIT, it intends to inspire young people across the country with diverse tools and stories of those who chose technology as a career. If this initiative makes a significant number of students consider this area for their future work, the goal will be , in part, fulfilled”, says Inês Santos Silva, co-founder of the Portuguese Women community at Tech.
“In addition to having an impact on younger generations, our great expectation is to mobilize the community in general, with a special focus on parents and teachers. We believe that a change in perception is achievable, but this is only possible by working with the generations that will be the future workforce, “sure the same responsible.
“This initiative is part of the commitment to promote measures that foster gender diversity and reflect E-Redes’ constant concern to incorporate equality principles into its management strategy. Integrating more women into teams and leadership will contribute to the development of an inclusive, diverse and socially responsible culture”, defends José Ferrari Careto, president of E-Redes.
José Ferrari Careto and Inês Santos Silva will be present this Tuesday at the official launch of Future PWIT, which will take place at the Electricity Museum, in Lisbon, and which will also feature, among other responsible, the participation of Rosa Monteiro, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality.