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Every year on the 8th of March, women in technology, engineering and creative sectors get a spotlight shone on them for International Women's Day (IWD). For one day of the year, they are recognised, celebrated, and manage to take over social media.
But we don't think one day is enough. Why should the amazing women across these spaces only get one day to shine? How could an organisation like ours possibly celebrate all of the awesome women in tech, engineering, and creative digital roles in just one day? Why can't it be bigger than that?
So we have decided that we will be celebrating International Women's Month across TECwomen and TECgirls. This includes a number of exciting things:
The launch this week of our Digital UPLIFT program
Working with Software Cornwall on a new Women in Tech Directory (more to come on this!).
And importantly we will showcase a different woman working in Technology, Engineering and Creative Digital every single day this month as a part of our Spotlight on TECwomen series on the TECgirls site.
Why you ask? Well firstly, we believe that it is important to showcase amazing women and highlight all they are doing in our local area. And secondly, evidence has shown that girls and women participate more and do better when they have role models to look up to.
It is also important to say that this year's IWD theme is all about embracing equity. According to the IWD team - Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. So as an organisation that already celebrates women, we want to go a step further and really recognise the huge variety of skills, experiences, and backgrounds that make up the TEC sectors in Cornwall. Sharing women's stories with our community is one way to start to see just how wonderfully diverse we all are. We hope these profiles will help to show how much talent we have across Cornwall and ideally inspire more women to share their stories or even start their own career in these spaces.
And while we are starting with 30 women this month, we hope this list will continue to grow and develop. Working with Software Cornwall we look forward to recognising 100's of women across Cornwall, capturing their stories and inspiring others. If you don't see your own profile on here and want to take part, please get in touch. It's very easy to create a profile with us and it can help become a part of the inspiration we pass on to schools and communities across Cornwall.