The ICT media industry is booming, as is the demand for talented employees. But for all its technological evolutions, the sector still has difficulties evolving towards a gender-diverse industry.
That’s why on this year’s International Women’s Day, Skyline Communications reveals its partnership with Rise, focusing on closing the gender gap in the industry. Rise is an award-winning non-profit organization that aims to achieve a diverse and gender-balanced workforce across the broadcast media and entertainment technology sector.
Opening opportunities for women
“The tech industry has always been perceived as a man’s world. And that’s largely due to a lack of female role models,” explained Carrie Wootten, Managing Director at Rise.
That’s why Rise focuses on opening opportunities for women through a wide variety of educational programs and inspiring networking sessions. They’ve already made great progress throughout the UK, North America, and the APAC region, and are now looking for ways to gain ground in Europe as well. And Skyline is Rise’s main sponsor in Central Europe.
“Our partnership with Skyline is a huge and important step in the right direction,” Carrie added.
Why the quest for gender diversity matters
Skyline wholeheartedly believes that (gender-)diverse teams are crucial to any company as they are better equipped to understand the needs of a diverse consumer base. What’s more, being surrounded by people you can identify with is vital to any employee’s well-being.
Unfortunately, the reality for many tech companies, including Skyline, is that they’re still a long way from gender-balanced workforces.
Working towards a gender-balanced future
“As an industry-leading company, we have a major responsibility to bring about change,” said Ben Vandenberghe, CEO at Skyline. “We have already been re-evaluating many aspects of our company, from changing our recruitment strategy to creating a more inclusive culture. Now we also want to invest in organizations like Rise to empower women. But of course, there’s still a long way to go.”
Fortunately, Skyline is not alone in its effort to achieve gender diversity as many other companies in the industry, like Sky, Sony, BT Sport, Avid, Red Bee, and more, have also partnered up with Rise. However, Skyline hopes that many more companies follow suit, because it will take a joint effort to make the ICT media industry really gender-balanced.
You can read the full article on Skyline.be.