We have a responsibility and commitment to champion diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and it’s up to all of us to make DEI a reality.
Friday 8 March is International Women’s Day, and this year’s theme is Inspire Inclusion. One of our business areas championing inclusion is Technology. Recognising that women are underrepresented in their field, the team is taking action to inspire and support more women to consider a career in technology, both within and beyond Carnival UK. Here’s what they’ve done so far…
Introducing Women in Tech
Did you know only 24% of people working in technology in the UK are female? The rates are even lower when you look at representation in tech globally.
While many women work in Technology at Carnival UK, the representation of women across our teams varies. In March 2023, the Women in Tech community was launched to strengthen and improve opportunities for women working in technology.
We caught up with Hannah Maun, Senior Manager CRM Optimisation & Digital Analytics, from Women in Tech to find out more…
“When we launched our Women in Tech community we had a razor focus on what we wanted to achieve, and set three key goals to help get us there:
- Offer peer support:
Our people wanted opportunities to informally meet, connect, share experiences and find support. Women in Tech has brought people together to discuss working in a male-dominated environment as well as how we can support each other with collective profile raising and career development.
. - Raise the profile of Women in Tech:
Every woman in our community has an important role to play with how technology enables Carnival UK to deliver business outcomes. But we recognised quickly that many women in the business don’t have a profile surrounding their fantastic work and achievements. We’ve discussed how we can raise each other up, celebrate our successes and build confidence. With the support of our People team, we have been working to raise our individual and collective profiles online via LinkedIn and internally – so that women can see more women in Technology at Carnival UK.
. - Reduce barriers to entering tech:
We believe in creating pathways for women into careers in technology. The first step was to establish an exciting partnership with Code First Girls. As part of this, Carnival UK has sponsored 90 women and non-binary individuals who wanted to pursue a career in tech to level up with an eight-week online beginner course focused on coding. The course applicants were diverse – 88% had no tech experience, 49% were the first generation in their family to study at university, 59% were from underrepresented ethnicities, 19% were eligible for free school meals and 13% were neurodiverse.
We’ve also funded four Code First Girls degree places and welcomed four new junior data developers to join our Data Services team at the start of this year. Women in Tech has taken on the key role of mentoring our graduates to support them with starting their first role in technology”.
Want to find out more? Join Women in Tech on Wednesday 6 March for:
- Meet and greet in the Atrium, 12:00 – 13:00
Pop along for a chat to find out more about the community and enjoy a sweet treat!
.- Q&A panel event, 13:00 – 14:00 in the Floor 4 Collaboration Space
Whether or not you’re interested in tech, and regardless of the gender you identify as, there’s lots of interesting work and activity to be shared by our panellists that all of us can be inspired by and learn from. Save the date and add it to your diary here.
Find out more, including your chance to WIN a prize bundle, here.