Diversity & Inclusion

After backlash, a campaign to expand what ‘women in tech’ means

The Women in Tech campaign, led by digital agency Social Driver and others, seeks to broaden definitions.

Speakers at the "Stories of Women in Tech" event (left to right): Jumoke Dada, founder of Signature RED, Sue Grinius-Hill, former COO of Apprennet and Melissa Morris Ivone, designer at Curalate. Photo by Lisa Yoder.

A marketer. A roving developer. The founder of Hear Me Code, the free coding classes for women.
These profiles were all featured in the Women in Tech campaign, which launched in late January and seeks to showcase the varied roles women can play in the tech industry. It also aims to bring together different organizations, instead of keeping them in separate “silos,” through a mentorship program, said Emily Rasowsky, a managing strategist at Social Driver.
The campaign was created in response to backlash from a Capital Standard story that featured “The New Face of Tech,” based on interviews with six women who worked at local marketing agency Social Driver. Among them, none were engineers.
So, Social Driver, along with Women in Technology and Networking Women in Technology, collaborated to feature women working in varied positions in the technology industry. The campaign has now gathered over 1,000 Twitter followers.
Rasowsky explained to Technical.ly DC why she believes it’s important to value all the different jobs available to women working in technology:

Expanding our definition of what ‘women in tech’ means is important because it helps showcase the many different roles, responsibilities, and backgrounds that women in tech actually have, beyond but still inclusive of engineering. Today, technology is growing and changing faster than ever before across every single industry. In the future, it’s not unlikely that most every professional role will require some form of technology expertise – no matter what background you have – so we have to start now by highlighting the different roles that make up women in tech. You wouldn’t necessarily tell the CMO of a healthcare firm that he or she is not in the ‘healthcare industry’ so why limit the ‘tech industry’ to only engineering?

The Women in Tech campaign also hopes to bring together different organizations, instead of keeping them in seperate “silos,” said Rasowsky. “Our goal is to create a program that uses the stories we have collected to inspire connection between women in tech — no matter what their background.”


Women in Tech will hold an event in April to celebrate the women featured in its campaign.

Companies: Social Driver

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

How 5 orgs help local businesses achieve success

19 tech and entrepreneurship events to check out before the holidays

DC’s year in tech: An interactive timeline for 2024

AI is being used in more and more of the hiring process, especially at high-volume companies

Technically Media