Are you ready to challenge your unconscious biases when it comes to gender equality?

Love Tech, with The Chamber of Commerce, is holding ‘a practical workshop on gender equality’ next Tuesday (March 21) at Barclays Eagle Labs.

Love Tech committee member Lisa Karran is running the event.

She said: ‘The Love Tech committee and mentors give up a lot of their free time to encourage, motivate and inspire young women to consider #STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] careers but 40% of women who go into STEM fields leave.

‘One of the reasons often cited is inequality and organisational cultures they find difficult to deal with.’

Do you think you’re unbiased? Do you worry that gender equality demonises men? Are you concerned about ‘doing the right thing’ or afraid of ‘doing the wrong thing’ when it comes to gender equality and improving your workplace for everyone? Would you love your organisation to be a leader in this important area?

These are the kind of questions that charity, Love Tech, will be tackling at the event, and for very good reason.

In this day and age, when industry is becoming increasingly more tech focused, inspiring and empowering women to explore and to remain in STEM professions, is increasingly becoming a huge part of the gender equality conversation. Educating yourself on how to handle unconscious bias is therefore essential for any healthy workforce.

Lisa said: ‘In the wake of “me too” and “cancel culture”, the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing can shut down dialogue, create avoidance and potentially damage everyone – none of which is helpful in moving the diversity cause forward.’

This workshop has been designed with a practical focus. This means you can expect to be challenged to explore your own awareness, alongside gaining practical tips to help overcome unconscious bias and to improve communication on diversity issues.

The workshop will also discuss how to develop an organisational system that supports gender equality, and, though focused on gender specifically, will also speak to the wider diversity agenda.

Lisa said: ‘Nobody is immune from the risk of discriminating against others. We all have biases so let’s feel the fear and look at these anyway.’

l ‘A practical workshop on gender equality’ is on Tuesday, March 21 at 12.30pm at Barclays Eagle Labs. All concerned parents and professionals are invited to attend at a fee to cover costs.

The charity has been invited to run this event in recognition of its status as Chamber’s ‘Charity of Choice 22/23.’ Tickets are available from Eventbrite via the charity’s website: www.lovetech.im