Digital Female Fellowship: How we are providing learning opportunities for women to get into the technology field

Launched in January 2021, the Digital Female Fellowship is an initiative of the Global Shapers Munich Hub that provides technology and digitalization related learning space for women with migration backgrounds. Since the project started, it has been fostering a female-tech positive community and learning opportunities for women by offering online courses and technology-related topics and getting them interested in a technology career. 

According to Miray Salman, "we understood that there is already an extraordinary demand for safe spaces when it comes to entry into technology fields, and the empowerment and information from people who are experts in digital topics is a fuel." She shares more insights on the project, the challenges faced, and the impact on women and fellows.

WHAT WAS THE MAIN GOAL OF THE PROJECT?

We want to provide technology and digitization related learning space for women with a migration background and without prior tech experience. With this initiative, we are working to lower the entry barriers for women into technology-related education and careers.

WHAT DID YOU THINK THE RESULT WOULD BE?

We always hoped that the women who attended our courses and our fellows would become curious about tech topics and become interested in technology careers.

DID THE IMPACT HAPPEN AS EXPECTED?

We realized that the women who attended our courses were already highly intrigued by those topics and eager to learn. So, our expectations were exceeded, and we did not have a lot of motivation work to do. It was the contrary - our fellows asked the speakers about opportunities to get involved with careers in the technology sector and further education opportunities.

WHAT DID YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOY ABOUT THE PROJECT?

While I enjoyed every aspect of this collaborative initiative - especially the challenging ones that helped me grow personally - I notably received a lot of value from connecting with the women who attended our events afterwards through our various channels.   

WHAT WAS PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT ABOUT THE PROJECT?

The whole project has been and continues to be a leadership and personal development experience for me. I can say that a few things have been difficult. But overall, the growth we experienced as a team by handling those challenges has been one of the most rewarding things about this project. 

WHAT WAS PARTICULARLY NOTABLE ABOUT THIS PROJECT OR A RECENT EVENT YOU ARE PROUD OF? 

I am proud of our fellows who dared to join a technology course for the first time. And I am proud of the female leaders in tech who value female technology empowerment enough to carve out time from their busy schedules to support other women so generously - sharing their knowledge and insight with them. 

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? 

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