This blog is the fourth in a series about leadership, gender gap, diversity and work-life balance in the tech world.
An interview with Hannah Dowie
I am an Event Logistics and Operations Coordinator at IDC working specifically on our Conferences we run. My role involves recruiting delegates for the conferences, managing and executing the sponsors deliverables included in a conference sponsorship and liaising with the venue to make sure we have all the equipment, catering and set up ready for the conference.
I am also IDC’s unofficial Social Secretary and organise the Christmas Party and Sales Kick Off each year, which involves searching for a venue, negotiating costs and site visits.
A typical day for me would be speaking with sponsors to either welcome them on board as a sponsor, finalise their content or keep them updated with the latest agenda and delegate registrations. I also schedule our recruitment emails for each conference to send to our end user database so that we generate registrations for the conferences. I work very closely with Ash Rashid (Event Director for UK&I) so that he is aware of what sponsors are on board and the number of delegates registered for the conferences.
Q: What’s the one thing you would tell women in IT, to keep in mind as they navigate their careers?
I would say that IT is (still) a very male dominated industry and I see this at the conferences I run. However, I am always working towards getting more women there and making sure that we have women speak at all our conferences in some shape or form. I would advise women to continue to put forward their ideas and suggestions as I think we tend to hold back more and not be as forthcoming with what we know and how we could help.
Q: What would you tell young students, say those in school/university, to focus on as they prepare to enter the workforce?
I would tell young students to seriously consider working in IT, I fell into the tech industry when taking my placement year and haven’t looked back. I think it is a really cool industry to work in – technology is pretty much a part of everything we do and is evolving more and more each day. There are other industries that maybe might seem more interesting to you, but I can guarantee you technology will play a part in those industries too.
Q: Who is the most influential woman you know? How does she inspire you?
I recently watched the film ‘On the Basis of Sex’ and found Ruth Bader Ginsberg to be incredibly inspiring. Studying at Harvard Law School she was one of only a few women in her class and once graduating spent her career as an advocate for the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights and won multiple victories arguing before the Supreme Court. She was the second woman out of four women to be appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Courts for the US.
The reason I found her so inspiring was because she kept fighting for what she believed in and never stood down despite not being offered a job after graduating first in her class (female lawyers were not valuable prospects at the time). One of her first fights was an issue we are still seeing today, she learnt that her salary was lower than her male counterparts and so ‘joined an equal pay campaign with other women teaching at the university, which resulted in substantial increases for all the complainants.’ One of her most famous quotes is ‘Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.’ I find this to be incredibly true, our future generations will shape the world, so now is the time to start teaching them how to.
Want to learn more about how to Empower Women in Tech? Follow and join the conversation on social media – #IDCIWD19 and share your thoughts about this topic.
Series of posts:
Embracing Change as a Technology Marketeer… I Love Being a Woman in Tech!
How to Build a Successful Career in Tech
Personal Rules are Essential for Your Work-Life Balance
How Can the Tech Industry Provide You with an Exciting Career?
Diversity, Inlcusion and Red Hat’s Open Culture