The Digital Women UnConference 2016 will offer a chance to propose and debate key topics effecting the increased diversity of women in the Digital workplace and to meet and network with  others interested in this important topic. The event will run from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, with networking drinks following.

It is generally accepted that as a nation we are struggling to keep pace with the need for digital skills. A recent National Audit Office report states that the ‘UK digital skills gap across all industries exacerbates the government’s situation, even before considering demands of transformation’. In this digital age of technology infiltrating every aspect of our lives, you would think we would have women distributed at all levels of IT. However, a recent Computer Weekly report revealed that the average percentage of women working in technology teams in the UK is 12 per cent – down from 15 per cent last year.

Writing recently for Digital Leaders, Arianna Huffington said that simply put, we need more women in technology. Because when women succeed, everybody wins. But there are still many institutional barriers all around the world. One of the biggest is the way workplaces are currently structured. Many women don’t want to get to the top and stay there when the price means sacrificing their health, their well-being, their relationships and their happiness. Women in highly stressful jobs have a nearly 40 percent increased risk of heart disease compared with their less-stressed colleagues, and a 60 percent greater risk for type 2 diabetes (a link that does not exist for men, by the way). And that’s a problem with a workplace culture that equates burnout and macho notions of sleep deprivation with dedication. It’s a culture that was largely put into place by men, but the costs are borne by everybody.

The good news is that we are already witnessing a global shift toward digital leadership values and abilities traditionally considered feminine, especially collaboration and empathy. The more these qualities infiltrate boardrooms everywhere, the better off we’ll all be, women and men alike.

This Unconference in London is a first event for DL looking at this important topic of Digital Women.

Digital Leaders are teaming up with the Mayor of London to host an unconference on the topic of Women in Digital on 3 October at City Hall. We will be joined by members of the Mayor’s digital skills stakeholder group.

The Digital Women Unconference is facilitated by Mark Foden of ‘More Tea Vicar‘

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