World Congress 2026 Europe - Virtual Stage • Jul 2, 2026 • Session details

All voices welcome - A case for gender quotas at tech conferences

Katrin Rabow

Why do women's pull request acceptance rates drop when their gender is visible? Katrin Rabow exposes tech's systemic biases and explains why conference quotas are essential for true inclusion.

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#1 about 4 min

Introduction and perspective on the gender gap

Personal experiences and context for discussing the representation of women in technology.

#2 about 3 min

Statistics and the gender care gap

Current data on women in computer science and the impact of unpaid care work on career progression.

#3 about 3 min

The business and ethical need for diversity

How diverse teams prevent biased product development and break cycles of discrimination.

#4 about 3 min

Gender bias in code review and industry history

Research on open-source code acceptance rates and the historical shift of programming to a male-dominated field.

#5 about 4 min

Everyday barriers and stereotype threat in tech

The ongoing challenges of structural biases, higher performance expectations, and in-group exclusion.

#6 about 3 min

Tokenism and the shift to non-technical roles

How exclusion and tokenism push women toward less technical tasks and unpaid office housework.

#7 about 3 min

Disparities in professional networking and sponsorship

The difficulty of accessing male-dominated informal networks and securing career mentorship.

#8 about 4 min

The case for implementing gender quotas

How quotas can break the vicious cycle of underrepresentation and increase overall team performance.

#9 about 6 min

Actionable strategies for inclusive tech conferences

Practical steps for organizers and attendees to design accessible and welcoming events for all genders.

Matching moments

4:14 min

Community involvement and the women in tech panel effect

Joana Simoes · LIVE

4:30 min

Overcoming engineered biases to achieve equal technology representation

Brenda Romero Brenda Romero · LIVE

8:04 min

Pushing for female representation and leadership in technology

Katja Träumner

1:53 min

Improving diversity and inclusion in tech

Ramona Schwering Ramona Schwering · LIVE

4:07 min

Overcoming visibility challenges for women in tech

Teena Idnani · LIVE

2:50 min

Improving gender diversity in engineering teams

Anna John · World Congress 2023