UNTIL NOW
Women were under-represented in tech companies
FROM NOW ON
Companies are making conscious efforts to inspire, engage and empower women
Women in top management of global technology companies are particularly conspicuous by their absence. Although a third of the workforce is female, that percentage plunges in leadership positions. Women hold only 10% of tech startup positions, for instance. This isn’t due to a lack of interest or talent but rather a deficit of opportunities to develop certain skills.
Dassault Systèmes has championed the cause of gender diversity for more than a decade as part of our overall commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). In 2021 we committed to having 40% of executives and 30% of people manager roles held by women by 2025.
Those are ambitious goals; to reach them, we are relying on our decade-old women’s initiative network, 3DS WIN, as well as the Rise Up! program, which aims to build an inclusive pipeline of future managers.
Rise Up! is a ten-month talent incubator integrating self, social, professional and inspirational learning. Thanks to self-awareness modules, co-development workshops and individual mentoring, Rise Up! enables women and men to accelerate the inclusive leadership skills they need to become successful managers. The target is to enroll +100 talents in this journey every year, with a ratio of 80% women and 20% men. In 2021, 96 diverse talents (84% women) and mentors all around the world joined the Rise Up! Program.
Dassault Systèmes also encourages women to explore careers in science through other avenues. Florence Hu-Aubigny, Executive VP, Research and Development, was featured in a recent book on women leaders, by Delphine Remy-Boutang, President, Global Entrepreneurship Network, France. Hu-Aubigny discussed her passion for science and her experience leading 3DS’s global R&D team of 7,000 employees, encouraging young women to become scientists, engineers and leaders.
WIN Conversations
Launched to celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, WIN Conversations is a video series that invites talented women from 3DS to talk openly and informally about their beliefs, career experiences and visions on gender diversity. Here are some excerpts :
“It’s vital to have people from different parts of life in your organization. We’re a global economy, and to be effective in the marketplace, we need to have people who represent that marketplace in the organization. It’s important to have a space for women to understand what their strengths are, where the opportunities are, and how to advance their career.”
“The world of technology is very fast-paced and innovation is very important. But you can’t have innovation without others. And there are bound to be people who disagree. What’s at stake, if you don’t bring people together, is that you tend to lose ideas. You can’t debate and challenge each other for something that’s much better than what you had originally thought of.”
“In their studies, young women mainly choose biology, medicine or ecology in order to have a global impact in their day-to-day work. We need to convince them that they can also have an impact by choosing the virtual world and joining a tech company. Diversity is part of the Dassault Systèmes DNA. We find women in all functions of the company.”
