Equals Role Models Campaign Launched for More Women in IT & Cyber Security

On 8 March, International Women's Day, the IT/cyber security Role Models Campaign was launched by Equals. It is their most expansive campaign yet with more than 180 inspiring role models from over 120 companies, displayed online and via posters across five cities: The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Almere. Aim is to inspire and attract more talent toward the IT & cyber security domain. Theme of the campaign is: 'It Takes One to Become One'.

Dieuwke van Buren, member of 'Equals', states that the goal is to demonstrate to girls and young women that there are no limits to what women can achieve. There is no denying in the dire need for women in the IT industry. The proportion of women in technology even dropped to 19% last year. Accordingly, the Netherlands' score is three percent lower than the average for all of Europe. Diversity and inclusion in the industry are far too frequently dismissed, as seen at the State of Dutch Tech 2024 conference on 6 March in The Hague; employers do not invest in this, according to 65% of questioned employees.

Meet this years' role models, amongst role models from our partners TNO and Municipality of The Hague.

Jacqueline van den Ende, CEO of Carbon Equity - The labor market is tight. The key lies with women: it would be great if more women started seeing the tech sector as an option. Besides, men see enough examples of successful CEOs, entrepreneurs or engineers around them. As a result, men often start their careers with the belief that you could become anything they would like to become. It is important that - through the visibility of female role models - women reach that same starting point, where they believe that no ambition is too big, no bridge too far.”

HSD is endorsing partner of this campaign, because together with our partners we are looking for concrete scalable programmes to ensure that there is sufficient and skilled security talent for the labour market, as part of the ambitions in the Human Capital Agenda Security. One of the opportunities is to attract underrepresented groups such as women in cyber.

More information?

Click here to read all about Equals itself, alsongside with the event

Photo: Equals