By: Sarah Douglas, VP Global Marketing & Communications, SecureKey Technologies

For years, women in technology have worked endlessly to level the playing field for gender equality in a heavily male-dominated industry. This devotion towards embedding a strong gender balance has helped broaden the scope of opportunities for women to evolve their careers, progress within the sector and lead generations of women to come.

Although significant changes have been made towards the outlook of a women’s profession in technology, female leadership still lags. In fact, a recent Kaspersky report revealed 38 per cent of women working in IT and technology claim the lack of female presence intimidated them when entering the industry.[1] Looking ahead, it will be crucial to further eliminate gender bias notion and offer role models for female technology experts.

Women inspiring women

This year’s #ChooseToChallenge campaign for International Women’s Day, happening Monday, March 8, 2021, is an opportunity for everyone to challenge the inequalities present in the industry, while calling out biases to continue our journey of change. Today, 19 per cent of women working in tech admitted they were inspired to take up their profession by female role models, leaving the remaining 81 per cent to look up to men.[2]  Optimizing gender differences offers exposure to different voices as diversity breeds creativity, allowing you to broaden your horizons and see the world through someone else’s perspective.

This International Women’s Day, we celebrate these role models and promote inclusivity to better recognize achievements in technology and digital identity from leading women. We are so lucky to have allies and strong relationships with various organizations led by strong female experts. It is a true honour to work alongside female leaders who heavily impact the industry with their thought leadership and innovative sights. These women include:

• Joni Brennan, president at the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), who works tirelessly to bring Canadian digital identity innovations to the globalmarketplace and strengthen Canada’s strategic position as a leader in the digital ID space.
• Karyn Bright, strategic marketing consultant and leadership team member at Women in Identity, an instinctive collaborator who works alongside tech visionaries to shape change and thrives on bringing ideas to life through people’s natural creativity and individual strengths.
• Hyperledger’s leaders, including Bobbi Muscara, María Teresa Nieto, Grace Hartley, Tracy Kuhrt, Christine Moy, Archana Sristy, Emily Fisher, Jessica Rampen and Daniela Barbosa.
• The female digital identity leaders at SecureKey, a marvelous team of women who help drive innovation and work endlessly to transform the digital identity and authentication space in Canada.
• Clients of FINCA Canada , a catalyst for women’s empowerment and inclusion for poor and marginalized individuals, whose dedication and drive to technology education and entrepreneurship is extraordinary and serves as outstanding leadership to many women around the globe.
• Christine Dikongué, innovation and strategy consultant at Nanuric, who has an admirable history in project and investments management, with an extensive background of creating innovation roadmaps for digital products and programs for various industries, including banking, start-ups, as well as governmental and non-for-profits sectors.

These women and women-led organizations have forged inspiring career paths that will forever motivate aspiring female innovators, technologist, engineers and forward-thinkers who are eager to make long-lasting impacts in the technology and digital identity industry. With the challenging events that transpired this past year, each of these inspirational women have played an important role in pivoting digital practices to further transform the technology landscape for the better.

At SecureKey, we are invested in fostering an inclusive community that provides equal opportunity for all. We encourage you to help celebrate these women for all they have done and all they will undoubtedly achieve.

We encourage you to further celebrate the breakthroughs accomplished by women in digital identity and technology! Help us to keep raising awareness to initiate change and eradicate gender bias!

Let’s continue to honour these women together with #ChooseToChallenge, #IWD2021, #WomeninIdentity and beyond.

[1] https://media.kasperskydaily.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/85/2021/01/18101159/Kaspersky-Women-in-Tech-2021-Report-V2-Final.pdf

[2] Ibid