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European Economic and Social Committee
MEMBER MISSION REPORT
Madi Sharma
Event: 1st European Celebration of Women in Computing
Place:Brussels
Date : 25th– 26thApril, 2016
NOTE to the file
Subject: Participation of Madi Sharma and Renate Heinisch at 1st European Celebration of
Women in Computing
This 2 day event was attended by mainly women of all ages, but sadly very few men. The guests came
from institutions, academia, private and public sectors from across Europe and the US. The event was
sponsored by the leading global tech companies and supported women in
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pursuing computer careers
meeting successful technical women and men who built their global careers
learning about the latest progress in the technology sector and how to apply for research funding
promoting the value of women in technology
I gave a presentation on behalf of the EESC about the action of women at a local level which had an
impact at the global level and how technology was an enabler of achieving such goals and driving
change. I covered the EESC work in gender, discrimination, inclusion, entrepreneurship and
leadership/management.
There were over 50 workshops and 350 delegates, awards ceremonies and celebrations of women and
ICT. The award celebration honoured the Ada Lovelace legacy, the first woman in computer
programming discovered in the late 50’s, but who is still not appreciated in equal terms with male
accomplishments in the field.
Mrs Heinisch attended several workshops also making recommendations from EESC opinions and
expressing how both young and old should work better together without making assumptions of the
other. She made some best practice examples of ICT and e-health.
This conference was unique and probably the first one in Europe that covered the technology from
totally different point of view. Most technical presentations had a sociological and gender approach
which opened up very interesting discussions and new fields for researchers and product developers.
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There were some extremely interesting data and examples of gender inequality on the internet and
how this influences thinking, statistics and perceptions. For example Google translate will always
default to the male gender description because that is most used on the internet, thereby fuelling the
vicious circle of the lack of presence of women. Even where quoted female professors are listed,
Google will refer to them as “he said”!
The global problem of small numbers of girls in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts
and Mathematics) was addressed in many presentation and workshops. Several interesting methods
were debated for increasing the interests of ICT to youngsters which could lead to improved gender
balance in the industry. It was very positive to see young girls from universities and IT organizations
such as Girls in Tech included in the workshops and panels, so their suggestions and opinions could
be heard.
I was asked to participate in the high level press conference to promote the value of women in
technology, and therefore in the economy with:
 Eva Fabry, Director European Centre for Women and Technology - when I talk please have
the NTNU slide behind me!
 Joanna Sterzynska-Lindberg, European Commission Policy Officer, DG CONNECT
 Pascale Van Damme, Managing Director Dell Belux & President of the Belgium ICT
Association
 Marina Alekseeva, General Manager INTEL SSG Russia
 Barbara Althoff –Simon, Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer, SAP AG
 Danny Gooris, Senior Manager Oracle Academy
 Madi Sharma, UK Representative EESC & Entrepreneur
 Claudine Schmuck, Y-factor survey - Make a difference to gender diversity in STEM;
 Anna Sigurgisladottir, Reconesse - launching the world´s largest online database on women in
Tech.
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-3Details of the event, the
http://womenincomputing.eu/
conclusions
and
workshops
can
be
found
on
Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information [email protected]. I have
offered the support of the EESC for future events.
Madi x
Copies:
President EESC
Employers Group President
Employers Group Secretariat
SOC Section President
SOC Secretariat