Competence center technology-diversity-equal opportunities

Competence center technology-diversity-equal opportunities
purpose	Equal opportunities for women and men
Chair:	Prof. Barbara Schwarze
Establishment date:	1999
Seat :	Bielefeld
Website:	www.kompetenzz.de

The Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities e. V. is a nationwide active non-profit association based in Bielefeld , which was founded in 1999. The association promotes the implementation of equal opportunities and diversity in education, training, work, science and research through various projects and campaigns. More than 90 projects have been carried out so far. The association has been an affiliate of the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences since it was founded. The association has 63 members: 30 institutional, 24 personal, 4 sustaining members and 6 honorary members. According to Article 8 of the Articles of Association, the majority of the board of directors must be female.

history

founding

The association was founded on November 10, 1999 under the name Women give technology new impulses e. V . founded in Bonn. The name goes back to the initiative of the same name, which was launched in 1994 by the then Federal Ministry of Education and Science , Deutsche Telekom AG and the Federal Employment Agency (today: Federal Employment Agency). The aim was to strengthen the participation and networking of women in technical training, courses and professions. One of the most important and high-profile projects of this time was the “Women on the Net” campaign, through which women received a free introduction to the Internet by women for women.

development

On April 1, 2000, the association started the project Competence Center Women in Information Society and Technology, which was funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth until 2005. The networking and strengthening of women in technology and natural sciences remained the focus of the work and was implemented through networking and advice, informing the public as well as developing and implementing target group-oriented projects and measures. Among other things, the Girls'Day was developed in this phase.

Renaming and expansion of activities

The association was renamed in 2005 in the Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities eV (since 2019 with the short form competencez). This made the strategic expansion of activities in the areas of diversity and equal opportunities also visible in the club's name.

Focus

The Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities eV has therefore continuously expanded its project portfolio and is now active in the following six subject areas, on which projects and campaigns are carried out:

Career and life planning
Demographics
Digital integration
Diversity
Family and work
Women and STEM

Projects

The best-known nationwide projects are Girls 'Day and Boys' Day , the National Pact for Women in MINT Professions (“Come on, do MINT”) and the Klischeefrei initiative . Kompetenzz also contributes its expertise in the field of gender-sensitive career and study choice as a cooperation partner to international projects and also offers scientific social research on socially relevant topics as well as the evaluation of projects and measures.

Girls 'Day (Girls' Future Day) is the largest career orientation project for school girls in Germany. The day of action on every third Thursday in April offers girls the opportunity to get to know technical and scientific professions in various organizations and companies. According to the association, a total of around 2 million girls have taken part since the campaign started in 2001.

Since 2011, Boys' Day has also been held every third Thursday in April. On this day, boys have the opportunity to try out professions in the fields of education, social affairs, health and care. According to the association, more than 280,000 boys have so far taken part in around 52,000 Boys' Day offers.

The Klischeefrei initiative is the central point of contact for advice and networking for institutions and active people for choosing a career and course of study free of gender stereotypes . The initiative's service point consists of a specialist and press office at Kompetenzz, as well as an editorial office located at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). Elke Büdenbender is the patron of the initiative .

The National Pact for Women in MINT Professions project, which has been part of the Competence Center since 2008, brings together the expertise of politics, business, science, social partners and the media to change the image of MINT professions in society and to inspire young women for scientific and technical courses and to attract university graduates for careers in business and science.

Publications

with Initiative D21 : Digital Gender Gap - Situation report on gender (in) equality in the digitized world. Special evaluation of the D21 digital index 2018/2019. Berlin January 6, 2020, ISBN 978-3-9818331-8-8 ( PDF: 1.3 MB, 36 pages on initiatived21.de).