The DiversIT Charter is our flagship initiative aimed at reducing gender disparity in IT roles. It is a certification which moves through three levels of attainment: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each level has a focus on attraction and retention, asking applicants to showcase their initiatives and policies for increasing gender equality in ICT professions.
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Technology is a growing field and advanced digital skills are at a premium. Women are less than 20% of the workers in ICT professions, and yet are consistently nearly half of the available workforce. In addition, having a diverse team increases productivity, profitability and innovation potential.
With the Charter certification, you will:
Consult our brochure to find out more.
Ready? Fill in this short form to contact us and start your journey!
Interested in increasing gender equality in your tech workplace but not confident that you can become a Certified Member yet? Apply to join as Allied member instead! Becoming a DiversIT Charter Allied member will help you get started, enable you to learn from the best and demonstrate your commitment to gender equality.
If you are an organisation working with gender equality/diversity in tech, we would love for you to join as Allied member! Together, we can reach a broader community, especially since we are a pan-European network, thus increasing the effectiveness of your and our actions. In addition, we can pool our knowledge to develop better actions to promote gender equality and diversity in tech.
As an Allied member, you will have a number of benefits, such as privileged access to our events and workshops, a chance to consult our expert pool for advice and guidance, and a 10% discount on the assessment fee for the DiversIT Charter Certificate, if you decide to apply for the certification.
If you’re interested in joining our network as Allied member, please contact us at info@cepis.org.
Any legal entity may apply if they have an IT workforce. For example, a bank which has a significant workforce of technical people may want to show how they have committed to the principles within the DiversIT Charter and may want to follow the roadmaps set out in the Bronze, Silver, and Gold certifications of the Charter.
The organisation wishing to apply should indicate their interest by filling out the contact form on the CEPIS website: https://cepis.org/diversit-charter/ . The CEPIS Secretariat then will contact the applicant with application forms and more information.
If you are not sure which level to go for, the level guide should help. The CEPIS Secretariat and the expert team will also be happy to have a call should you wish for more advice and clarification.
Each stage – Bronze, Silver and Gold – is broken down into several areas of activity or ‘themes’ around activities in support of women in tech. We have compiled some examples of activities by theme in these two documents for you:
Summary of the recommended activities and the Detailed activities.
Don’t be discouraged if you lack activities in a particular theme, especially when applying for a Bronze or Silver certification. The assessors take into account the overall picture of activities and initiatives as well as size of the applicant’s organisation.
We are happy to clarify any questions the applicants might have, whether before or during the application.
The pricing of the assessment depends on the size of the applicant’s organisation. The DiversIT Charter initiative is strictly not-for-profit. All proceeds are used exclusively to support the work of the initiative.
– Small enterprise (up to 50 employees) – EUR 350
– Medium enterprise (51-1000 employees) – EUR 750
– Large enterprise (1001+ employees) – EUR 1200
Discounts are available for higher education institutions and not-for-profit organisations. Please contact us to learn more. The Charter certification is free for CEPIS Member Societies.
Yes, the Allied Membership costs 200 EUR/year.
No. If your organisation has sufficient expertise to prove that you are working at Silver or Gold level, you may apply for this level of certification directly.
The assessment teams have two schedules of assessment annually. The spring assessment will accredit successful applicants at the start of May each year and the autumn assessment will accredit applicants at the start of November. Organisations can send in their application at any time in the year. However, to be assessed for accreditation at the start of May, the application must be submitted no later than the 1st of March and the autumn accreditation schedule expects application forms to be submitted no later than the 1st October.
You will be notified by email from the CEPIS office during April or October following your application so long as the application was received by the correct date. The Assessment team will notify the CEPIS office of those applicants succeeding or failing in their applications, and emails will be sent out. Where an application is a failure, the assessors will offer positive suggestions of activities which will enhance the work in the organisation, with a view to receiving a successful application from the organisation in the next round.
Holding the DiversIT Charter status at any level identifies the organisation as one which is supporting its female technical workforce or student cohort. For this reason, it is important that organisations re-certify to ensure that women seeking work in the organisation can trust that they will be supported equally and fairly during their tenure with the organisation. As the DiversIT Charter certification becomes trusted across Europe, women will seek it out when looking for employers or looking to do business with organisations. For this reason, it is important to ensure the quality mark that the DiversIT Charter accreditations confer.
Charter certificate holders will be required to recertify every 5 years. If the deadline for recertification is missed, the Charter certificate will no longer be valid until the time of successful recertification.
You should use your original application and submit it along with additional work that has been done in each subsequent year. You should verify your submission on the application form and submit in the normal way. In this way the assessors can see growth, progress against KPIs and targets and momentum for women in tech.
The DiversIT Charter is a network of diversity-conscious businesses and organisations who truly care about equality in tech.
National DiversIT Charter Ambassador in Iceland
Level: GOLD
Awarded on: May 2020
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The DiversIT Charter is an initiative of the CEPIS Women in ICT expert group. Coming from different CEPIS Member countries, the Charter assessors are a group of experienced and knowledgeable experts, thoroughly committed to promoting gender equality in ICT profession.
Gillian has extensive experience in the IT industry and runs her own training and staffing company. She sits on the board of directors for the British Computer Society, and lately on the board of directors for WISE, supporting women in STEM. Her long involvement with women in IT includes supporting industry and academia on diversity, chairing BCSWomen group, and leading the CEPIS Women in ICT Task Force. Gillian was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath in 2019 for her work on diversity and was entered into the Computer Weekly ‘Women in IT Hall of Fame’ in 2017.
Petra is the founder and CEO of the Slovak NGO “AJ Ty v IT” (“You in IT, also”). She received the CESA Female Role Model of the Year 2018 Award in Slovakia, for her work in empowering girls and women and motivating them to choose tech studies and careers. Previously, she worked at the Faculty of Informatics and Information Technology of the University of Bratislava, and in the marketing department of DANONE International Brands in Paris. In 2015, Petra represented Slovakia in the International Visitor Leadership Program of US Department of State, Women in STEM field. Petra holds a PhD from the Bratislava University of Economics, and has studied economics at the Sciences Po university in Paris.
Marina is a computer consultant who for a long time has been involved in the development of many EDCL/ICDL and informatics certifications both in Italy and internationally, being a part of many expert workgroups. She also takes care of the Italian localisation of the material related to such certifications, and she is responsible for quality assurance of the training material and the tests used for the certifications in Italy. Marina is very committed to increase the presence of women in STEM, and is one of the most active members of the CEPIS Women in ICT group and plays an important role in the development of the DiversIT Charter.
Arnheiður has been in the IT sector since 1986, starting out as a programmer at the National Hospital and going on to become a Project Manager and Managing Director of Software Development in Skýrr, one of the biggest IT companies in Iceland. Now she leads Ský, the Icelandic Computer Society, a non-profit association of IT professionals. She is also the initiator and Managing Director of the „UTmessan“ project, one of the biggest annual IT events in Iceland. Arnheiður holds a degree in Applied Computer Sciences from Denmark and an MBA from the University of Iceland. She is also a long-standing leading member of the CEPIS Women in ICT Task Force.
Priska is Group CEO at wikima4. She has been working in the fields of information security, data privacy, process optimization and international trading marketing for almost 20 years and specialises in analysis, development and realisation of operational Risk Management and IT-Governance, among others. In her international assignments, she has learned many languages and is acquainted with the cultures and working mentalities of these countries. The major topics that she was engaged as SI Board member include the diversity aspects in IT throughout the whole carrier: from girls in coding to senior female management as well as increasing IT know-how among young people.
Raquel received her PhD degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2008. She has been a lecturer and researcher at the Engineering and Computer Science Department at Zaragoza University for more than 20 years. She has (co-)authored almost 100 scientific papers, published in national and international conferences and research journals. Raquel has been involved in several important program committees of international conferences and has been principal researcher of more than 10 research projects with government and private companies. She has participated in Zaragoza University programs such as The Girls’ Day with the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists, and is also a part of the CEPIS Women in ICT expert group.
Nurcan is the Director of Ankara Logistics Base and Part-time Instructor at Atilim University. She worked at at the Ministry of Customs and Trade, where she was the Head of the Information Processing Department for 14 years. She managed the e-customs project, which was Turkey’s largest e-government project at the time. She also worked as Ministry Advisor. Nurcan had chaired the e-TIR Group of Experts at the UN in Geneva for 11 years. She received an award from the World Customs Organization for her outstanding work on automation at customs. Nurcan has been a member of the Turkish Informatics Association (IAT) since 1990, in executive and Board positions. She is also the coordinator of the Women in ICT group in IAT. She is also a member of the Turkey Blockchain Platform.
Skevi is a US graduate majoring in Information Systems. She has extensive experience in ICT in international business in insurance, airlines, shipping and other industries. As a team leader she successfully mentored and supported women. She also actively promotes and supports ICDL certification. Skevi has long been involved in promoting women in IT in Cyprus, as a member of the Board of the Cyprus Computer Society, through the CEPIS Women in ICT Task Force and through organising and supporting projects, conferences and events. She is actively involved in developing the DiversIT Charter.
Gyöngyi is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Informatics at the University of Debrecen in Hungary. She worked as a database programmer, web developer and designer. Gyöngyi is responsible for CS teacher training at the UD. She is also the e-learning coordinator of the faculty. She is the founder and the leader of the Women in Informatics Communication, Education and Research Area chapter of NJSZT and works in many project involved in women in CS. She is a member of IEEE, ACM, and ISACA. She holds degrees, a Ph.D. and a habilitation in Computer Science and Mathematics from University of Debrecen, Eötvös Lorád University Budapest and Savoy Mont Blanc University, Chambéry.
Sabine works as Patent Attorney at Schwarz & Partners. Her past career includes working as Patent Examiner at the East-German Patent Office and at the Institute of Informatics. In 1992 she joined the European Patent Office, first as Patent Examiner and then as Director in the field of computing. Sabine has co-authored two books on the protection of software by patents. As a member of the German Society of Informatics, she was active as deputy speaker of the Women in Digital group. Sabine is a member of IEEE, ACM, and GChACM. She holds a degree in automation technology from Technische Universität Dresden.
The DiversIT Charter Team adhere to this Code of Conduct during all stages of their work. Read Code of Conduct PDF in browser.
This year, for the first time, we are participating as partners at one of the world’s premiere tech conferences – Web Summit. It will take place from 13 to 16 November in Lisbon, Portugal. Come have a chat with us in Pavilion 3!
The Slovak NGO Aj Ty v IT (“You, too, in IT”) has recently joined the DiversIT Charter community as its first Allied member. It is one of the leading women in tech-oriented organisations in Slovakia. Its motto is “Technology has no gender”.
Research to date indicates that women harsher feedback, less constructive and actionable feedback, and more personality feedback than their male colleagues. Furthermore, certain behaviours seem to be more appreciated when observed in men. A report from Textio discusses this in detail.
While there’s a clear intent and increased discussion and activity surrounding DEI in companies and institutions, progress remains sluggish. In 2020, the global spending on DEI efforts stood at $7.5 billion, and this figure is expected to double to $15.4 billion by 2026. However, at the current pace it will take another 151 years to close the global economic gender gap at all levels.
On 29 June, we held the second workshop in our “Your People, Your Potential – Tools for Impact” workshop series. This workshop focussed on inclusive language. The participants learned about the German Informatics Society’s experience with developing and implementing an inclusive language guide.
The second iteration of the Slovak Women in Tech conference is scheduled to take place on October 12th, 2023 in Bratislava, Slovakia. It is the foremost multi-genre conference celebrating IT women in Slovakia.
