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Women in Technology - Let's keep the momentum NOW!

Sun 05 June 2011

, Lydia Duijvestijn

In October 2009 in my first LEAP! blog I asked myself and you the question, what sort of networks are needed to include female technical professionals and help them progress. Do we need separate networks, apart from the 'mixed' (but pre-dominantly male) networks or do we need subsets of existing 'mixed' networks? Back then I was in doubt. After having led the IBM BeNeLux Women in Technology network for almost two years my view on the matter has become more clear and more differentiated. We definitely need 'time for ourselves' but in the end we have to stick together and merge into the 'mixed' networks with fresh energy and renewed strength!

Women in Technology has become an overwhelming success.

Our web-roundtables with female distinguished engineers from abroad, each of them fantastic role models, attracted good attendance and led to lively discussions. These women have shared their advise, their view on their careers and lifes with such catching enthousiasm!

The Taking the Stage program with 4 videos, coaching and exercises with executives and technical leaders was even better attended and very well received.

Our certification booster programs have inspired many women to finally get seriously started on their certification packages and one of them has already submitted her IT Architect package!

But, in spite of all these successes, decisions who is considered candidate for promotion, who is sent to participate in highly visible international programs, who is offered opportunities to perform, are still taken by men. In our region very rarely strong women are represented in key positions where they can have significant influence on policies regarding technical directions and on decisions regarding the career development of (female) technical professionals.

In the long run this situation can lead to demotivation of those women who have given so much of their time and energy to the phantastic initiatives that were started. After all - what is the reward for stepping up if the dice have already been cast?

In the coming years our challenge is therefore to keep the 'velvet revolution' awake; to gradually change the situation and in this way make sure we keep the momentum.

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