More women on tech stages: #LiT launches public speaker directory for female digital experts

At the beginning of the year under review, we launched our German public female speaker directory. With this platform, our aim is to offer women a place on the digital expert stages and to support organisers who are seeking female tech experts. The directory is available publicly and is free of charge for event organisers, digital experts and all interested parties.

As the largest association of the Internet industry in Europe, the presence and visibility of women in tech is close to our hearts. At eco alone, we organise over 100 events per year, where we would naturally like to see more female experts as speakers or panel participants. Different perspectives enrich digital debates with fresh ideas and other perspectives. You can also find detailed information on our female speaker directory in the FAQ.

Role models are the be-all and end-all: Interview series with role models

In keeping with the motto “If she can see it, she can be it”, 2022 saw a successful continuation of the interview series with role models from the digital industry. In total, six interviews with inspiring female professionals and executives in the Internet industry were published in the 2022 series. The interview partners included the following: Sabine Schaar, Equinix, Christine Serrette, ITZBund, Reg Levy, Tucows and Michael Krause from Spotify. Several additional “Women in Tech” interviews were also published on dotmagazine.

Queen content: Whitepaper for Girls’ Day

To mark Girls’ Day in April 2022, eco published the English-language white paper “Girls in Tech: A Call to Action”, setting out recommendations for action for IT companies, policymakers, educators and parents. In the white paper, Eilín Geraghty from the eco International Team highlighted the status quo of women in the Internet industry, based on current statistics and research findings. One clear conclusion: any inhibitions and disinterest of girls regarding tech and IT are not due to inherent causes, but primarily to socialisation issues, a lack of role models, and stereotypes in media and marketing.

In interviews, female experts and executives in the IT & tech scene from Europe, the US and Africa shared their empirical experience and best practices for promoting girls and women in tech. The launch of the white paper was accompanied by further communication measures in both German and English-speaking countries, including press releases and social media contributions.

Additional content on the topic of women in tech, such as press releases on International Women’s Day or Girls’ Day, has been published on the website of the #LiT – Ladies in Tech Initiative website, in the #LiT newsletter, and in the #LiT LinkedIn group.

Online and offline events with #LiT – Ladies in Tech and powerful partners

In 2022, we once again organised events under the umbrella of #LiT – Ladies in Tech; in each case in cooperation with an eco member company. In February, members of the GoDaddy Women in Tech team – namely, Melanie Buck, Director Change Management, and Franziska Thoms, Senior Marketing Lead – gave insights into internal best practices for the promotion of women in tech under the motto of “Empowerment in the Name of Love”. The team members shared their experiences on how to implement more diversity in everyday working life and presented the roll-out of “GoDaddy WiT”, its internal European women’s network. Additional topics included accompanying measures and activities and the promotion of other underrepresented groups, such as the LGTBQ+ community.

On 2 August, we were guests at an event of our #LiT – Ladies in Tech ambassador, Equinix, which took place in Frankfurt. Together with the Equinix Women’s Leadership Network, we focused on the following theme: “Bye, bye, chatterboxes, mufflers, show-offs and shirkers: tips, tricks and methods for better and more inclusive meetings” (German-language). After an inspiring input from Astrid Lethert, Head of the Academy NRW at pme Familienservice, a lively exchange took place among experts as part of an interactive discussion with the participants.

In June 2022, at the eco://awards – which had been postponed due to the pandemic – we were finally able to present Kim Dressendörfer Senior Account Technical Leader at IBM, with the #LiT – Ladies in Tech category award.

Become a partner of #LiT – Ladies in Tech

Further information on the initiative and participation opportunities at: lit.eco.de.