Allyship in Action: Building inclusive organisations in the Digital Sector

Gender inclusion in the digital sector is not a women’s issue alone. It is a shared responsibility, and men have a critical role to play.

Fewer than one in five ICT specialists in the EU are women, a figure that has not shifted since 2024 despite continued demand in cloud, cybersecurity, data and software roles. Eurostat’s 2026 data puts the EU ratio at 19% women to 81% men, ranging from 28% in Romania to 13% in Czechia. ICT specialists still make up just 5% of EU employment, against a 2030 target of 10%. This is an equality problem and a competitiveness problem at once.

Allyship means looking at what individuals with structural influence do with it: which processes they reform, which decisions they scrutinise, which behaviours they refuse to accept, and which outcomes they take accountability for. It’s a measurable practice, not a static identity.

Session objectives:

• Moving from sentiment to repeatable practice
• Concrete evidence on culture, talent retention, innovation and leadership pipeline benefits
• Why women-only initiatives reach their limits without shared ownership
• What worked, what failed and the lessons learned
• How communities of practice sustain long-term allyship

Agenda highlights: 

• opening remarks on allyship as practice, not position;
• a panel of four practitioners each sharing one concrete intervention and one measurable result, covering leadership commitment, policy and process (recruitment, promotion, pay, sponsorship),
• results in retention and innovation,
• honest reflection on what didn’t work; a rapid-fire round on what changes when allyship becomes the norm;
• audience Q&A.

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The webinar is part of our online series created by the Women in Digital Forum members, bringing together experts from different industry, and civil society to share practical insights, highlight approaches that work, and support exchange and collaboration.

Organised in the context of the EU-funded project WIDCON (Connecting Women in Digital), supporting the Digital Decade ambitions by strengthening evidence, activating expert communities, and scaling best practices to advance women’s participation in the digital sector.