On 4 May 2022, the German Informatics Society “Gesellschaft für Informatik” (GI) received the Gold level certificate of the European Digital Women Diversity (DiversIT) Charter. The Gold level certificate recognises the recipient as being a leader in achieving gender equality in IT professions. After the Informatics Association of Turkey and the Icelandic Computer Society, GI is the third CEPIS member to receive the DiversIT Charter certificate, and the second to achieve the Gold level.
Christine Regitz, the President of GI, said: “GI being awarded with the gold status of the CEPIS DiversIT Charter is a recognition of our ongoing activities for women in informatics but also a mission directed towards the future. Informatics is at the core of our digitized world and all genders are needed to shape it. GI as the largest German-speaking professional society in this discipline will continue to work hard to make it easier for girls and women to get started, to promote their educational and professional paths, and to make the contributions of women visible.”
With around 20,000 individual and 250 corporate members, GI is the largest and most important professional society for computer science in Germany, and has represented the interests of computer scientists in science, business, public administration, society and politics since 1969. GI works closely with academic institutions, government and other stakeholders to increase the number of women in digital education and professions. It promotes women in tech management through its cooperation with FemTec Alumnae, AllBright Foundation and EAF Berlin. GI also leads and participates in many national and European projects promoting girls and women in tech. Those include the Informatica Feminale, the International Summer University for Women in Informatics and Computer Science, the girls@BWINF competition, and the #HackTheSummer project. GI’s own “Frauen und Informatik” (Women and Computer Science) special interest group has been actively working towards increasing the numbers of women in the informatics field since its creation in 1986. Internally, among other initiatives, GI has a gender parity requirement for its Board of Directors (currently 50-50 gender balance), role model profiling, and support, mentorship and career guidance programmes for female members.
Gillian Arnold, the Chair of the CEPIS Women in ICT expert group and member of the CEPIS Board of Directors, said: “We at CEPIS sincerely congratulate GI on achieving the Gold certificate of the DiversIT Charter. As representatives of ICT professionals in their countries, computer societies are ideally placed to advance gender equality in tech professions in their countries, and GI is fulfilling this potential to the fullest. GI’s work on increasing the number of girls and women in tech is truly an example not only for all other CEPIS members, but for organisations in all of Europe, both in the scope of involvement in external projects and initiatives, and in the internal policies of GI itself. GI’s work should be seen as a role model for other organisations who want to work towards increasing the numbers of women in tech”.
About DiversIT Charter:
The DiversIT Charter, developed by the Women in ICT expert group of the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS), is a certification based on a three-stage roadmap to help organisations achieve leadership in these areas. Bronze, Silver and Gold certifications of the Charter are awarded to organisations which can show that they have activities and focus on this area. The levels build upon each other until, at Gold level, recipients are seen as thought leaders in encouraging more women into the field.
