Empowering women, empowering the future of IT

March 8, International Women's Day. This day has been celebrated for over a century and has become a subject of different corporate campaigns nowadays where social media is taking up more and more space in our lives. However, don't you think it requires more effort than a hashtag? We do. We believe that everyone and every company has to take serious action to address equality on a gender basis and do plans to make it sustainable.

So, what's our part here? The IT sector is a place where women are especially underrepresented. The gender disparity in pursuing a tech related degree decreases gradually but the IT field still remains a male domain. Although there is much more to do, we thought the best place to start was to take the “She for IT” initiative by adesso as a source of inspiration. The initiative, which has started in 2019, aims to support and promote women in the IT industry. “She for IT” includes an attractive package of measures to increase the proportion of women employees within the company and to make a long-term contribution to ensuring that more women are interested in a professional future in IT. This package specifically contains school sponsorships and direct communication with the target group at universities, company tours for female students, internal company mentoring programs and women’s networks. In the footsteps of “She for IT”, we, as adesso Turkey, invite all of you to join us in our journey to tell powerful stories about women in IT.

We set ourselves goals to make their voices heard. We aim to break down stereotypes, open up a space to discuss shared challenges, possible solutions and inspire young women who want to enter IT industry. In line with these purposes, we will be spotlighting the stories of women adessi. Because we think that it’s important to make their stories accessible to everyone and send a clear message that women are not only welcome but needed in IT. We will also introduce frameworks for driving change by raising awareness, hosting inclusive events, encouraging meetups or organizing workshops. There are women who overcome biases within IT and it is up to us to take concrete steps to make them visible.

While female employees make up 30% of adesso, this rate is only 10%* within IT in Turkey. As a company that has achieved this and has committed to empower more women employees, we invite the whole industry to do the same. Because there is something everyone can do to initiate cultural change. The key is to take action and start from somewhere, albeit small. We know that gender equality cannot be achieved overnight. But by raising awareness from all levels, from management to new starters, we will carry the power of “She for IT” onward to make a real change in our country.