Women into Tech

Women into Tech logo

Women into Tech supports and encourages women studying and working in tech: apprentices (foundation / modern / graduate), students, and professionals. The project is led by Edinburgh Napier University and University of Stirling, working with Ada Scotland, and funded by Skills Development Scotland.

Partner logos: University of Stirling, Edinburgh Napier University, Ada.Scot, Skills development Scotland.

First, we investigated what seemed to be discouraging girls from taking tech subjects and identified some of the challenges women face in studying tech and tech careers. We found a lack of knowledge about the many diverse tech careers out there and the women progressing in these roles. We also identified some isolation issues, due to women and girls being in minorities studying computing and working in the tech industry or digital teams.

We took 3 complementary approaches to these challenges:

  1. Case studies of women in tech roles;
  2. Connect-ups: themed online groups for women studying and working in tech in Scotland;
  3. Webinars led by Equate Scotland looking at ways to address the challenges of working in tech and including skills, such as peer-mentoring.
Women in Tech profiles
Seventeen Women in Tech

Case studies

We’ve been asking women working in tech and digital, including apprentices, about their journeys into tech, what they do, and what they like about it. Here are our first 17 profiles (pdf).

Connect-Ups

Connect-Ups are opportunities for women in tech (studying, working, apprentices) to get together to chat and support each other. We outlined three different sessions and these ran online in spring 2022: Introduction; Inclusive by Design; and Making a Difference. We facilitated the first sessions, then the participants took over.

Equate Scotland Webinars

We worked with Equate Scotland to provide a 2 workshops to support young women’s personal development and to develop mentoring skills to support other women in the tech sector (e.g. through our Connect-Ups). The workshops explored the challenges women face in tech environments and then looked at mentoring in more detail: the benefits mentoring can bring to women in tech, skills for mentoring,  and developing confidence in running good online peer mentoring and networking events.

Contact

If you’d like to know more and/or get involved in any of this, please contact Sally Smith: s.smith@napier.ac.uk