On International Women’s Day 2024 Charlotte Morphet and Sarah Littlejohn explain why they set up and run the Gender Diversity Group at Solirius, an employee-led initiative to celebrate all genders, share experiences and discuss a wider range of topics related to women in technology.
Why gender diversity is important
The tech industry is known for its lack of gender diversity and at Solirius we are passionate about making a positive change to grow and sustain diversity at all levels.
We recognise that having a diverse range of experiences and viewpoints, makes us a stronger, more well - rounded and innovative company.
We have a great representation of women at Solirius (34% vs the 20% industry standard), so we wanted to create a community to empower all of our amazing female, non-binary and trans employees.
What our group does
To do this we launched our Gender Diversity Group in 2021, which has been going from strength to strength ever since!
Our community is built to be an inclusive, supportive and positive space, where everyone of all genders are welcome as we recognise that change must come from all directions.
The focus of the community is to be a safe space where everyone can get together and share experiences. We meet up once a month at our Gender Diversi-tea sessions, to discuss a wide range of topics that are important to us - and of course share a cup of tea 🫖. Participation is voluntary, employees are welcome to join (or leave) any time. Every year we aim to build out a programme of prompts to focus our discussions and get everyone thinking.
Topics to discuss over tea
Over the course of the last year we discussed themes such as ‘Disrupting Stereotypes’, ‘Tackling Imposter Syndrome’ and ‘Intersectional Feminism’. We gathered community
driven insights with our diverse opinions and experiences.
As part of our celebration for International Women’s Day we are launching our next programme of discussion points which we can’t wait to learn more about and share with the whole of Solirius.
Our themes and prompts will include:
Gender & Your Career Journey
The Influence of gender on the creation of tech
The impact of tech on our understanding and treatment of gender
As part of these, we’re going to cover topics like, menstruation, fertility, and menopause, safety impacts when designing applications and how technology affects gender roles.
As a group we are looking forward to keep growing over the next 12 months and help balance the gender gap in our industry!
What our members have to say
Here are a couple of quotes from our members about why they love being part of our community:
‘"I love the solidarity, community and opportunities to learn from others." - Phoebe
“The GDG is a community I’m so proud to be a part of” - Sarah
“I love being a part of a non judgemental, inclusive group, where you can learn and hear some thought provoking stories and ideas. I think the Gender Diversity Group is a very valuable part of Solirius.” - Claire
Thank you.
Charlotte Morphet, Business Consultant & Sarah Littlejohn, Technical Delivery Consultant