Celebration of International Women’s Day 2023
We are joining the celebration of International Women’s Day 2023 (IWD), and to us the topics for this year’s celebration are at the core of our work toward gender equality and our reasons for working towards a diverse, equal, and inclusive organization where everyone feels they belong.
#EmbraceEquity
Every year a new theme is selected for the global campaign to spark engagement and action. This year the theme is Embrace Equity. It is an encouragement to all of us to take action toward women’s equality. And just to be clear, we include everyone identifying as women when we talk about women's equality, including trans-women.
While equality and equity are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings. Equality refers to treating everyone the same, regardless of their individual needs or circumstances. In other words, it involves giving everyone the same resources, opportunities, and support, irrespective of whether they actually need them. While equality is an important goal, it can sometimes fall short of creating true fairness and justice. For example, if a school gives every student the same textbooks and resources, it may not be taking into account the fact that some students may need additional support or accommodations to succeed.
To take action you can commit to educating yourself and the people around you on the difference. This article on the IWD website is a great place to start.
DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality
UN’s topic for IWD is DigitALL– Innovation and technology for gender equality.
Historically women have been underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This means that many of the perspectives and ideas of half of the population have been left out of the innovation process. By promoting gender equality in STEM, we can ensure that a wider range of perspectives and ideas are brought to the table, leading to more creative and innovative solutions.
Technology and innovation have the potential to shape our society in profound ways and to improve people's lives in countless ways. However, if these advancements are developed primarily by men, they may not fully consider the needs and experiences of women. For example, if a healthcare technology is developed without considering the unique health needs of women, it may not be as effective for women as it is for men. By promoting gender equality in technology and innovation, we can ensure that these advancements are developed with the needs of all people in mind.
Promoting gender equality in technology and innovation can also help to address broader issues of gender inequality. For example, by encouraging more girls and women to pursue STEM fields, we can help to close the gender pay gap and increase women's representation in leadership roles. Additionally, by promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry, we can combat issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination.
Overall, gender equality is critical for ensuring that technology and innovation are developed in ways that benefit all people. By promoting gender equality in STEM fields and the tech industry, we can ensure that everyone's needs and experiences are taken into account, leading to more creative, innovative, and equitable solutions.
Read the article: Celebration of world’s first programmer enlightens need to focus more on gender equality in tech-industry >
Our contributions
In Cegal we are determined to work towards equity and gender equality. There are several reasons for this, such as:
- It makes sense business-wise. We know for a fact that diverse companies deliver better results than those who are not
- It is morally and ethically the right thing to do
- Our products, services, and solutions are aimed at a diverse user base. This means that we need to have the same representation to be able to meet the needs our customers and users have
The above bullet points explain why, but the trickier part is how. How do we put actions behind the words? We do a lot, but we are also humble to admit that we would like to do even more.
We know that recruiting women requires that we look harder to find the best candidates and that when we recruit, we tend, consciously or unconsciously, to look for something familiar. In a male-dominated environment, this needs to be addressed, and we do so by a KPI that says that 40% of new hires should be women and that among the final heat of the recruitment process, there should be at least one woman.
Also, we believe that we need to connect, empower, and challenge our female employees. To do this we have a network for women called Women at Cegal that is running a range of different initiatives. The network was initiated by some of our brave women and is expanding and developing quickly.
In Norway, we are an ODA Platinum partner and we work closely with ODA both as participants at their events and we also host ODA events at our office locations. We do this to support a national initiative to gather women and because we believe this is an important step towards connecting, empowering, and challenging our female employees and those who will join us in the future.
Sustainability and social responsibility
Honestly, we are not known for being shy. We want to contribute to a sustainable world and define this based on the UN’s definition of sustainable development. All of the reasons for celebrating IWD are well-anchored in our sustainability strategy.
To us, sustainability is absolutely essential in our vision of becoming a legendary company that employees love to work for and that customers want to work with. And social responsibility includes working hard towards diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging – which is exactly why we celebrate IWD.
Read more about how we work with sustainability >
Click here to download the Cegal Sustainability Report 2022 >
