One of the “Sustainable Development Goals” of the United Nations is “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. They write: “Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world”. The Software Campus also supports equality and diversity within the program, hoping to generate a lasting positive influence beyond the program. A look at the existing commitment of the Software Campus industry and research partners shows that there is already a solid basis for this.
Research partners
All Software Campus research partners show initiative in terms of equality and diversity. On the respective homepages you will find links to specific institutions and information offers such as the FAU’s Office for Gender & Diversity, the TU Dresden’s Staff Unit Diversity Management or the TUM Equal Opportunity Unit and the Gender Equality Office of the TU Munich. In addition, the TU Darmstadt awards the Athene Special Prize for “Gender- and Diversity-Sensitive Teaching”. The TU Berlin offers a wide range of information and participation opportunities within the framework of the subject area Gender and Diversity in Technology and Product Development and the Gender pro MINT initiative. In addition to the Gender Portal, the University of Paderborn also has the initiative Women shaping the information society, which offers various services for female students in the MINT field. The Department of Mechanical Engineering also has a newly established Department of Technology and Diversity.
Industry partners
Some of the Software Campus industry partners are also promoting equality and diversity on their websites, in their corporate governance reports or through events. For example, Holtzbrinck and DATEV took part in the Diversity Day of the Diversity Charter 2020. Merck‘s CFO Marcel Kuhnert speaks out in favor of diversity in the “pro” interview: “Diversity makes us more successful.”. Under the headline “Caring for Employees”, Huawei publishes figures on the “Workforce Diversity” and writes “[…] we emphasize gender equality in employment and prohibit gender bias, in strict compliance with all applicable international conventions as well as local laws and regulations”. IAV has “established a sponsorship model that is designed to prepare women for a new leadership role at an early stage”. At Volkswagen, Diversity Management ensures fair and prejudice-free HR processes and trains managers, e.g. as part of the “diversity wins @ Volkswagen” initiative to overcome unconscious prejudices.
In the current report by the AllBright Foundation “Die deutschen Familienunternehmen: TRADITIONSREICH UND FRAUENARM”, Merck and Trumpf stand out as positive examples, as unlike many other family-owned companies, they have women in their management positions: Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller (CEO, Trumpf) and Belén Garijo (CEO Healthcare, Merck).
Software Campus
The Software Campus is looking forward to a lively exchange and close cooperation with its partners to promote equality and diversity in industry and research in the field of information technology. Therefore, the consortium has decided to focus more on the networking of current female participants and alumni. Furthermore the new training course “Diversity – successfully leading diverse teams and encouraging potential” was added to the existing training program. A long-term increase in the proportion of women on the Software Campus is also being sought.
