The latest participants of the “Empowering Women to Lead…” initiative were selected from a national application process by the programme’s expert panel.

Applicants represented a diverse range of sectors, including local and central government, financial services, health, telecommunications, energy, academia and the third sector.

Since its launch last year, the initiative’s two programmes “Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation” and “Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security” have supported over 60 female digital professionals in their leadership development, with the stated aim of developing a sustainable community of empowered and empowering female digital leaders across Scotland.

As levels of gender diversity in leadership roles across the tech sector remain stubbornly low and with the cyber security sector experiencing particularly acute challenges, the initiative’s cross-sector approach and emphasis on network and community building has received a warm welcome.

The Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate and Scottish Digital Academy were early supporters, alongside tech trade body ScotlandIS and they have been joined by a myriad of firms with large and growing digital workforces such as Lloyds Banking Group and Morgan Stanley through to established and emerging tech companies including Sopra Steria, Adarma, Iomart, Exception and Quorum Cyber.

Having this level of support from some of the larger industry players, along with bodies like the University of Edinburgh’s DDI programme and the CyberScotland Partnership, has been particularly important because of the unusual funding model that Empowering You, the programme organiser, has adopted.

Unlike traditional leadership courses, the “Empowering…” programmes are free of charge to participants, ensuring that organisations in the public and third sectors, as well as smaller SMEs, are able to offer their staff the same developmental opportunities as the larger corporates.

It has also meant that the programme attracts participants at varied stages in their careers, seeing systems analysts and cybersecurity engineers mixing with Heads of Digital Transformation and Information Assurance.

Commenting on why they have gone down this route, programme Co-leader and Empowering You Founder, Steve Cliff said: “Improving levels of diversity and inclusivity in the workforce is a challenge that is affecting the whole tech sector, not just those with the deepest pockets and the biggest workforces.

“Our aim is to support the development of a sustainable community of emerging female leaders in tech, who feel empowered themselves and empower those around them. You can’t do that if the make up of that community only reflects certain sections of the sector.

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“In the same way that the tech sector needs to be reflective of society if it is to serve it effectively, the “Empowering” community needed to represent the diverse range of women working in technology for it to be successful. And that meant being open to everyone, regardless of industry, career stage or digital discipline.”

The spring programmes will run from March through to June and include a combination of in-person group workshops and virtual one-to-one coaching, culminating in a graduation event on the 22nd of June, where the participants will present to an audience of industry peers.

Recognition of the initiative is growing rapidly and Empowering You have now received backing from techUK and the Cabinet Office’s Government Security Group to run a new regional programme serving London and the South of England over the coming months, with additional programmes for Northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales scheduled to follow later this year.

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