Gender equality & digital transformation

The "Gender Equality and Digital Transformation" project is led by the UNIL Equality Office, in partnership with the EPFL Equality Office, HES-SO, HEG-FR and the StrukturELLE association. The dhCenter UNIL-EPFL, which ceased operations on December 31, 2022, was a founding member. Genre/numérique is supported by Swissuniversities, as part of the P7 project funding program "Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities in higher education development" (2021-2024).

Gender and digital

This project was born out of the realization that issues relating to gender equality and digital transformation are often dealt with without points of contact between them, which significantly limits their scope.

However, the team behind this project supports :

• that there can be no effective action for gender equality unless it is effectively embedded in the digital domain;
• that digital transformation faces significant obstacles and distortions if it doesn't confront the gender biases that run through it.

Objectives

By combining expertise in the fields of equality, digital, SHS and entrepreneurship, the aim is to :

• establish a state of the art on the mutual effects of digital transformation and gender bias ;
• encourage innovative approaches using digital technology to promote gender equality;
• study concrete ways of supporting women's careers in the digital sector;
• propose a guide to best practices in this area.

The project will run for three years. A program of actions, designed to bring together scientific research, political institutions and citizen projects, will be implemented during this period.

Actions :

• Conferences

A cycle of three events (September 2022, 2023 - see details of the edition - and 2024) will be organized, bringing together people committed to the study of gender/digital issues and the search for solutions. The participants will be drawn from both the academic world and society as a whole (institutions, businesses, associations, the media, etc.). During the project, knowledge syntheses will be proposed and, eventually, a guide to best practices will be published.

• Speed mentoring

In parallel with the Assises sessions, a range of one-to-one meetings will be organized in partnership with professional and academic associations, between women engaged in digital-related careers and students or young professionals wishing to enter this field.

• Research focus

From June 2022, a series of video interviews with female researchers who have produced innovative work at the crossroads of digital and gender will be available, along with a list of scientific references for those wishing to delve deeper into the subjects covered.