Arlington, VA—The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is celebrating International Women’s Day, March 8, to recognize the achievements of women around the globe.
CTA has welcomed visionary female industry champions to its events and stages. This International Women’s Day, the association took the opportunity to celebrate women in technology and share stories from CES 2022.
“We want to give a shout-out to the incredible women who are driving the tech industry forward. At CES 2022, we heard from GM CEO Mary Barra about her work to prepare the automaker for an all-electric future,” the association announced.
“Target chief marketing and digital officer Cara Sylvester also shared insights on the industry’s efforts to support consumers during the pandemic; Samsung vice president Samantha Fein Osborne weighed in on the rise of smart home technology; and JPMorgan Chase Payments head of Strategy & Insights, Neha Wattas, offered predictions for the future of digital payments.”
CTA International Women’s Day Highlights
Moreover, CTA hosted Senators Jacky Rosen, Shelley Moore Capito, Marsha Blackburn, Susan Collins and Maria Cantwell, all of the Senate Commerce Committee, for a conversation on broadband, STEM education and women in technology.
Further, these speakers are just a few of the dozens of #womenintech leaders who joined CTA in Las Vegas in January.
What’s more, CTA acknowledged that the tech industry has not always had the best track record when it comes to gender diversity. “While more women are leading tech companies than ever before, they remain significantly underrepresented—holding less than a third of leadership positions in the industry,” CTA stated. 
Consequently, CTA creates opportunities for women in leadership across the consumer tech industry to share expertise. It’s also why CTA is investing $10M in venture firms and funds that support women-led start-ups; underrepresented founders; as well as diverse leadership teams that will lead the tech industry into the future.
In addition, CES provides opportunities for women who currently hold leadership positions as well as rising stars to shine by participation in various panels.
“We also believe it’s critical to push other organizations to do better on the issue. As a matter of policy, CTA representatives agree to speak only at events and on panels that prominently feature women and diverse voices. Many of our partners can attest to pushback they’ve received from CTA when we receive invites for our executives to join all-male sessions; to their credit, the pushback generally leads to the inclusion of more women as speakers!”
CTA Diversity and Inclusion Study
CTA member companies are also putting their words into action. Last September, CTA published its first-ever Diversity and Inclusion Study. It showed that 88% of surveyed members are engaged in focused efforts to widen recruitment pools; as well as invest in employee development and training to increase women’s representation in their workforce. Two-thirds are also working with professional associations supporting women and other underrepresented populations.
Furthermore, through the CTA Diversity & Inclusion working group, launched in 2019, CTA brings together leaders from companies of varying sizes to share best practices; address business challenges; and develop strategies to create a more diverse and inclusive tech ecosystem.
The association also saw the gender gap widen during the Covid-19 pandemic; women left the workforce at a higher rate than men. As a result, this created greater gender inequity in the workforce than pre-pandemic. Consequently, this year, the working group is driving the conversation on what the tech industry can do to put strategies in place to offer a clear path for women to return to the workforce. This might mean reskilling and returnship opportunities to create new career pathways.
Highlighting International Women’s Day
Following are some of the events CTA is using to celebrate International Women’s Day. 
Leaders in Technology
This roundtable discussion focused on key tech issues. It featured the women of the Senate Commerce Committee; Marsha Blackburn; Maria Cantwell; Shelley Moore Capito; Susan Collins; as well as Senator Jacky Rosen. CTA has made the session available on demand here.
Global Women’s HealthTech Awards
In addition, CTA partnered with the World Bank Group to launch the Global Women’s HealthTech Awards. The awards recognize innovative start-ups that leverage tech to improve women’s health and safety in emerging markets.
It has attracted more than 70 companies from 35 countries. Click here to hear directly from the winning start-ups and learn about the technology addressing the most pressing health challenges for women.
