July 1, 2022
32 Barcelona Technology Companies Take Action To Reduce Their Inner Gender Gap
- The commitments reached by the companies include the following: training programs to achieve equity in the recruitment of women; training courses for human resource departments; promoting the visibility of female talent and conciliation policies; prioritizing the recruitment of women; and revising inclusive language for each of the 32 companies.
- The commitments are an integral part of the Gender Equality Tech Hub (GETHub), promoted by the Barcelona City Council in conjunction with allWomen.tech, the technological school of women for female leaders.
A total of 32 companies in Barcelona and the surrounding areas have committed to promoting gender equality in the technological field. The goal is to encourage and develop concrete measures that reduce the gender gap in the sector. The agreement has been reached within the Gender Equality Tech Hub (GETHub), an initiative promoted by Barcelona City Council in conjunction with allWomen.tech, the technological school of women for female leaders, and has been deployed in the framework of the Governmental Act “BcnFemTech 2021-2023: For gender quality in the ICT sector.”
The 32 companies have committed to achieving a series of objectives in 2022. Each company will be responsible for promoting and carrying out at least three significant actions, such as:
- Hiring more staff through services specialized in female talent
- Delivering inclusive and non-sexist communication guides, gender self-diagnoses, and Big Data projects based on gender
- Incorporating female talent
- Achieving parity between the technical and executive team
- Offering remote work to female workers in any department during the first year of their children’s lives
- Supporting initiatives that enhance the presence of female representatives
- Prioritizing female workers over males when there is a vacancy in the company, and creating a gender equality working group.
These companies have also committed to implementing and achieving flexibility and co-responsibility:
- Collaborating with organizations that promote female leadership
- Completing projects that promote models for future professionals to pursue STEM careers
- Conducting professional speaking events for teenagers in high schools
- Writing job offers using inclusive language
- Having a gender equality plan
- Promoting networking activities for women
- Creating areas for diversity and inclusion
- Training people in charge of human resources on unconscious biases
- Carrying out inclusive UX actions
- Offering female hygiene products in the common areas of the company’s lavatories, and suggesting a day off without processing sick leave or attendance at medical centers.
A total of 32 companies in Barcelona and the surrounding areas have committed to promoting gender equality in the technological field.
Companies have also expressed their interest in putting in place effective measures to eliminate pay discrimination based on gender:
- Organizing group activities to promote awareness around gender biases and prejudices and how these can impact women at work
- Collaborating on projects to give employees tips on how to react in vulnerable situations
- Hosting trainings provided by women leaders
- Promoting meetups on the female presence in companies
- Always including at least one woman in the hiring process
- Outlining onboarding processes for women rejoining the company after maternity leave
- Taking concrete actions to retain female talent.
The companies that are part of the network are BETWEEN Technology, iterem, Pixel Research Lab, Allianz Technology, Thoughtworks, Talhis, Cyberclick, Citibeats, Vitaance, PepsiCo, Innovamat, Basetis, wefox, Witte y Solá, Unblur, Veepee, Haufe, Vista, Nestle IT HUB, Databot, Qualifyze, GreenPowerMonitor, Profess in Trouble, eDiversa Group, Autodesk, Foundation Mobile World Capital Barcelona, VOXEL, ProtoPixel, Nae, DMI, ServiZurich - Technology Delivery Center, and Seqera.
Achieving Equitable Organizations
GETHub was created Between November 2021 and April 2022. GEThub is a network of Barcelona technology companies working to get more females in technical and leadership positions, guaranteeing gender equality.
Currently, the city has only 29% women in the digital sector, and female contracted ICT specialists represent 19.5% of the tech sector on average. To reverse these figures, GETHub is open to companies based in the metropolitan area of Barcelona with a real commitment to gender equality and that are willing to reduce their inner gender gap.
GETHub has promoted companies’ in-depth self-diagnosis, detection, and eradication of gender bias, masculinities, honesty and transparency, female leadership, mentoring women for women, ‘bring parents back,’ inclusive marketing, positive action policies, protocols to address gender-based violence, inclusive talent selection, recruitment of suppliers, women-first training, investment in social impact projects, inclusive offices, and conciliation policies.
By participating in this program, companies prove their commitment to gender equality. In addition, all the companies joining the project will have the chance to be directly in touch and work with the Barcelona City Council, allWomen.tech, and the other GETHub members and have access to resources and dedicated tutoring services.
