Microsoft launches Microsoft Power Women in Tech Awards and honors inspiring women

A new distinction program is part of Microsoft’s Diversity policy after, according to data released in the 2022 Diversity and Inclusion Report, having reached the highest levels of diversity ever.

On International Women’s Day, marked today, Microsoft announces the first edition of the Microsoft Power Women in Tech Awards, which will reward and give visibility to women who occupy leadership positions in the ecosystem of Microsoft partners.

According to the consultancy Accenture, only 21% of women believe that the technology industry is the ideal space for them to prosper in their careers. Thus, Microsoft announces the initiative, taking place in Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, with the aim of empowering and rewarding women in the technology sector who stand out for their professional career and who actively contribute to inspiring women and young people to follow promising paths in technology.

The winner from each country, who will be announced on June 23, the date on which the International Day of Women in Engineering is celebrated, will have the opportunity to participate in the prestigious Women Leaders Executive program developed by INSEAD, in addition to becoming part of the new Microsoft Power Women in Tech community, which will provide valuable networking and coaching moments.

For Joana Pires, Microsoft Partner Business Development Director for Europe, “the lack of diversity represents a real threat to our region’s ability to innovate at a good pace. Particularly when it is demonstrated that more diverse teams provide greater innovation and better results. It is critical that we continue to support and uplift women in technology while also inspiring the next generation of innovation leaders.”

In order to participate in this initiative, the women in the contest must be part of the Microsoft partner ecosystem and assume leadership positions, and they will be able to nominate themselves or be nominated by Microsoft employees with their consent until May 8th. Learn more here. Prize terms and conditions can be known here.

From IT Girls! returns March 16
In parallel with the Microsoft Power Women in Tech initiative, Microsoft Portugal is once again promoting “Do IT, Girls!”, scheduled for March 16th. The program aims to equip the next generation of young women with the knowledge and resources needed to become more innovative and promote career choices in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

The action, which will bring together 40 8th-grade students, aims to promote a greater digital culture among young women, demystify careers in the STEM area and inspire participants to pursue education and career opportunities in the technology industry. In addition to mentoring sessions, they will have the opportunity to participate in several workshops on overcoming gender bias, an interactive session on automation and chatbots, and many networking opportunities.

The workshops will be delivered by Microsoft employees, namely Rita Piçarra, Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft, Mayte Cubino, Director of Support Engineering at Microsoft, Rita Gaião, AI, ML & IOT Supportability at Microsoft, Susana Guedes, Customer Success Account Management Lead at Microsoft, Teresa Paredes, AI & IoT Escalation Engineer at Microsoft, Diana Pereira, Business Strategy & Program Management at Microsoft, Manuela Doutel Haghighi, Global Customer Success Account Director at Microsoft, Cláudia Mendes, at Women in Tech Portugal, Lara Próspero, Global Director – L&D Delivery Excellence at Microsoft, Anna Ollé, Data Annotation Specialist at Microsoft, and Sofia Vaz Pires, Chief of Marketing & Operations at Microsoft.

Commitment to equity
As part of its commitments to Diversity and Inclusion, Microsoft revealed, in a report, that it had achieved the highest levels of diversity ever, with the greatest progress in representativeness. The data shows that, for the first time, women represent more than 30% of the technology workforce worldwide (30.7%).

Data is reinforced, also, by the ecosystem of Microsoft partners, which, since the launch, in 2018, have been part of the technology Partner Pledge, which has diversity and inclusion as one of its pillars of action.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok and see the exclusive content for social networks.