Coinciding with the International Day of Ada Lovelace, the first female programmer in history, Fundación Telefónica and Womenalia, the largest network of Spanish-speaking women professionals and entrepreneurs, have organised two face-to-face orientation and dissemination days for women interested in specialising in the technology sector at the 42 Barcelona and 42 Madrid programming campuses.

This is not the first time that both institutions have joined forces to promote the presence of women in the digital environment.

Programming, a professional outlet for women too

The two meetings held at 42 Barcelona, the campus that Fundación Telefónica has set up in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia, and 42 Madrid, respectively, have given around 200 women the opportunity to learn about programming and the different technological trends as a career opportunity.

The conferences were attended by expert women technologists, such as Idoia Salazar, president and co-director of the ethics and responsibility area of the Observatory for the social and ethical impact of Artificial Intelligence (OdiseIA), at 42 Madrid, who spoke about the importance of the presence of women in the digital professions to reduce the current digital gender gap; and Karina García, engineering director at Wizeline, at 42 Barcelona, who shared her experience and professional career in the sector.

During the meetings, speed mentoring sessions were also held, where participants and Womenalia mentors, professionals from companies such as Schneider Electric, Keyrus, Wizeline, Deutsche Bank, Mática Partners, Igeneris and Paradigma among others, exchanged experiences and shared the importance of having female references to inspire and empower other women who want to be part of this field.

A common goal: bridging the gender digital gap

Despite the fact that we are in the midst of the digital age, gender prejudices in the field of technology not only remain but are reinforced due to gender stereotypes that have originated from an early age. According to the Gender Radiography study published by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in 2022, although the percentage of female students at university is higher, they mostly opt for studies linked to Education, Health and Social Services and hardly choose STEM careers, such as Computer Science, Mathematics and Engineering, where their presence is alarmingly lower than that of men.

This gap is much more accentuated in studies related to careers in the field of technology, such as Computer Science, where currently only 14.1% of women are enrolled in computer-related degrees, according to the report Equality in figures published by the Ministry of Education in 2023.

This worrying situation has led organisations such as Fundación Telefónica and Womenalia to focus on the causes of this digital divide to tackle it through direct action. Fundación Telefónica, in its free programming campuses 42, located in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Urduliz, carries out other initiatives to empower women, such as the Piscine Discovery Week Women’s Edition, a week dedicated to learning web programming exclusively for women, or the creation of a network of women programmers through its ‘Women’s League’.

For its part, Womenalia has been dedicated for 12 years to the professional development and empowerment of women and to consultancy and services for companies in terms of equality and conciliation. All of this with a clear purpose, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda: to promote and accelerate women at any stage of their professional career.