Salford's Female Tech Revolution

National Tech She Can initiative wins Salford Council’s support.

16:37 10 March 2021

Tech She Can, a national initiative to increase the number of women working in the tech sector, has won the support of Salford Council, the first local authority in England to do so.

 

In order to inspire more school girls to consider a career in tech, Salford’s schools will start offering access to training programmes. Starting from Year 10, the council wants to work with schools and colleges to help young people find the right work experience.

 

Sam Betts, Salford council's assistant director for human resources and organisation development, said that the nationwide initiative will help narrow the gender pay gap further.

 

Ashwini Nanjappa, a 38-year-old who leads an enterprise document management team in Salford council's IT department, is determined to ‘tear down’ gender-defined roles.

 

She said: "When we talk about women in tech, we always talk about 'barriers'. Maybe words like that send across a message. Girls have to see beyond those words and just go for it if they're interested.

 

"When they hear 'male-dominated' they might feel intimidated as well – they'll be like, 'I don't want to be the only woman in the room'.

 

"They have to look beyond those words and if they're interested, there's nothing to stop them."