On Thursday, 12.5.2022, a round table on Challenges for Women in IT was held as part of the Slovenian Informatics Days 2022 conference. The roundtable highlighted a number of ideas to inspire and advance the inclusion of women. Zdravka Zalar, co-founder and CEO of Smartis d.o.o., Polonca Blaznik, advisor to the Minister in the Government Office for Digital Transformation, Aida Kamišalić Latifić, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor and Female Engineer of the Year 2019, and Nika Jeršič, a student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics, University of Maribor and cyber security enthusiast took part in the roundtable. The round table was moderated by Lili Nemec Zlatolas, co-founder of the Ladies in Informatics initiative.
The participants highlighted the problem of fewer girls enrolling in IT studies and the importance of starting an interest in technical education in primary school. They also pointed out that ability should always be the most important factor in recruitment, while at the same time diverse teams are more successful than homogeneous ones.
The roundtable was also joined live by Katja Mohar Bastar, Director of the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia, and participants of the Women for Digitalisation (digitalna.si) conference, which took place in Ljubljana.
