GENDER POLICIES IN DAILY PRACTICE

Traude Kogoj (ÖBB), Helmut Leopold (AIT), Marie Theres Raberger (AIT), Eva Wilhelm (AIT) // Chair: Carina Felzmann (Sheconomy)

The AIT-organized panel discussion, moderated by Carina Felzman, editor of Sheconomy, focused on the status quo of women in technology and how to attract more women to this field. Helmut Leopold, Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security and Gender Responsible Person at AIT, emphasized right at the start that many successful women with excellent international CVs and projects are already working at the AIT: "The problem is that they are often not even aware of this - themselves, the organization or the environment. For this reason, a task force was formed with the involvement of the entire management team to design and implement a gender program. The goal: to better communicate the achievements of women to the outside world and to raise awareness internally among women, but also among men. It is also important to involve the management in order to create better framework conditions for women. "Social barriers still exist," said Leopold, "we are only at the beginning of the journey." Marie Theres Raberger, Head of Recruiting at AIT, confirms this. There are still certain prejudices and "myths" that are partly anchored in the minds of women. One topic, for example, is part-time work, which is seen as a career obstacle. "But that is not the case here," Raberger emphasizes. "When we started, we were four female researchers at AIT," recalls Eva Wilhelm, who was a works council member for

Traude Kogoj (ÖBB, Diversity Officer), Helmut Leopold (Gender Responsible Person at AIT), Carina Felzmann (Moderator, editor in chief, Sheconomy), Marie Theres Raberger (Head of Recruiting at AIT), Eva Wilhelm (former works council member at AIT) (from left)

30 years, "a lot has already happened." Of course, it could be more, but Corona would now have made some role models even more firmly established. Women, however, are now more aware of their role and are more involved in networks. Traude Kogoj, ÖBB's Diversity Officer, gave an external view. As a trainer, she also organizes the regular Gender Days at AIT. The AIT is already well positioned in terms of diversity and employs great female researchers, said Kogoj. Now the main thing is to make applied research and product development gender-appropriate. Who is a product designed for - women or men, young or old, a local or global audience? This is where knowledge is produced that wants to make society better. Other topics discussed included gender-appropriate language, parenthood, career and communication. "We want to bring our female researchers on stage, that is also communication," said Raberger. By presenting role models, other young women could also be encouraged to venture into the technical working world. Photo: AIT/Roland UngerREVIEW #Efatec 2020