How can tech careers become more accessible to people of all genders?

Technical.ly markets Baltimore and D.C. recently topped a ranking of the best cities for women in tech, while Philly came in at #9. That’s pretty good news. And yet, across the board, inequity persists.

This March, our reporters will be taking closer looks at increasing inclusion, removing barriers and overcoming unconscious bias as part of Gender Equity in Tech Month of our editorial calendar. Think: What steps can we take to close tech’s gender gap? What organizations and people are doing the most interesting and impactful gender equity work?

We’ll be publishing a bunch of themed profiles, guest posts, features on relevant orgs and how-tos about, say, increasing the amount of money flowing to underrepresented founders. A few recent examples of relevant stories:

• How to be a (better) human in tech
• 4 strategies Baltimore companies are employing to close the gender gap in tech
• 90 career-building resources for Delaware women in tech
• Meet the Capital One tech executive who’s spearheading diversity initiatives across the company

An important note: This theme was previously called Women in Tech Month, chosen for March to honor Women’s History Month. We expanded it this year to include people of all underrepresented genders, including non-binary and trans individuals.

Also, we’re using the term “equity” instead of “diversity” intentionally and looking to sister site Generocity’s aggregated list of social justice term definitions for guidance: While diversity is defined as “A multiplicity of races, genders, sexual orientations, classes, ages, countries of origin, educational status, religions, physical, or cognitive abilities, documentation status, etc. within a community, organization or grouping of some kind,” equity is “Fairness and justice in policy, practice and opportunity consciously designed to address the distinct challenges of non-dominant social groups, with an eye to equitable outcomes.”

In other words, it’s not just about getting a more diverse field of workers for the sake of it, but for making technology-focused workplaces and communities safer places to be for everyone.

One big Q we want you to help us answer: How can tech careers, in particular, become more accessible for people of all genders? Tell us below — and if you have an idea for a story, or an organization we should look into, or a report we should read, or an expert we should talk to, or if you want to write a guest post on a relevant topic in which you’re an expert, tell us that, too:

We’re also offering the opportunity for companies to be featured in sponsored articles highlighting their work in this area; see some past examples of theme-specific sponsored content here, here and here. (Note that our sponsored articles are always labeled as such and are written by a team separate from our regular reporters.)

To get your company featured in a sponsored article, reach out via that big orange button below.

P.S. We’ll host our annual NET/WORK jobs fair in Philly this month while prepping for March fairs in Baltimore and D.C. Here are the deets:

• NET/WORK Philly is happening Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 3 to 8 p.m. at The Fillmore.
• NET/WORK Baltimore is Wednesday, March 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Assembly Room.
• NET/WORK DC is Tuesday, March 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Yard.