RIPE 84

The Women in Tech session, organized by RIPE 84 delved into the importance of data and the role it plays in identifying gender issues.

Speakers at the session raised awareness of the work of women in the community, discussed the barriers women face in the tech industry and highlighted the need to build spaces for women to participate actively in the debate.

Mirjam Kühne, Chair of the RIPE Community, opened the session looking at the importance of data and the role it plays in identifying gender issues.

Lorrayne Porciuncula, Executive Director of the Datasphere Initiative, discussed how to unlock the value of gender data and address gender data gaps. She explained how narratives play a key role in society and have an impact on data. Lorrayne stated that the interactions of datasets, norms and human groups have a gender component and gender lenses can be applied to its understanding, evaluation and advancement. In this regard, she emphasized that it is essential to be conscious about our objectives with data, especially with gender data.

Finally, Shane Kerr, DNS Software Developer at NS1, presented gender statistics of RIPE meetings and shared some assessments of how they could be read and what this means for diversity in the RIPE community.