“SheTechTalks


Objectives
The project aims to teach women advanced digital and technological skills, provide them with entrepreneurial and business skills which can prove immensely useful for those who want to make it into ICT as a profession. Eventually they will enter into a tailored mentorship and career guidance program, which through networking will guide them to established enterprises and businesses.
More specifically our aim through this project is to reach both direct and indirect objectives:
Direct:
- Train and educate women in matters relating to digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Cybersecurity and Coding and develop the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to occupy themselves in digital projects.
- Train and educate women in entrepreneurship, so they can develop skills and mentality.
- To engage more women and girls in the so-called “male-dominated” STEM fields such as programming/software development etc.
- Set up networking opportunities so that women who are interested in getting into tech can speak with other professionals, who have already made it in that department. They can share their knowledge and experiences.
- For professionals engaged in the project to get in touch with newly trained and extremely competent individuals through our networking process. They can collaborate/create a partnership/business relationship or hire the women in the future.
- To provide mentorship and career guidance for the young women participants.
Indirect:
- Create more role models for young girls to encourage them to pursue IT as a career and not be intimidated by the existing bias against them.
- Give young girls the opportunity to associate themselves with technologically challenging jobs that can lead to reducing youth unemployment in tech.
- Loose the gender gap in IT jobs and lessen or drastically remove the bias employers and other professionals in STEM usually have against women in tech related fields.
- Shed light on topics such as battling stereotypes, encouraging the digital interest of women, overcoming imposter syndrome, adopting divergent angles and points of view in technology and promoting technological education and research.

Title: SheTechTalks: Breaking barriers in ICT
Running dates: September 2024 – December 2026
Programme: Erasmus+ KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in Higher Education
ID number: 2024-1-NL01-KA220-HED-000252911
Website: https://shetechtalks.eu/
There are around 9 million ICT specialists all over the EU and less than a fifth of them are women, according to the latest reports of the European Commission Based on 2018 Eurostat data, just 1% of girls said they intended to work in an ICT-related sphere. Moreover, according to STEM education statistics in 2023 less than 30% of researchers are women, which is an underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, both globally and in Europe.
Taking into consideration the data, SheTechTalks project aims at promoting digital skills for young women and at a deeper level at reducing unemployment in younger generations. The project will focus on two pillars: 1) debunking stereotypes for women in tech, empowering young women to participate in the digital sector and 2) training them on digital skills, digital literacy and entrepreneurship mindset. The project will address both the gender gap and the need for upskilling to ensure women aged 18 to 30 are equipped with the digital skills demanded by the evolving job market. The project will prioritize the development of not only technical skills, but also critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and entrepreneurial skills that will be more valuable in the future.