On this International Women’s Day, we want to take the chance to highlight and celebrate female identity thought leaders within the ecosystem that have always driven and continue to drive successful use cases and bring solutions to the forefront in a largely dominant male field.
Gender discussion is so important to unlocking the full power of workforces and sparking innovation, but it is also a basic right for every woman to work in a fair and supportive working environment with equal pay and opportunity. Two sides of the discussion lie in addressing gender bias and poorer representation of women in the identity industry, and eliminating technological bias.
The identity industry is constantly making strides towards stamping out gender imbalances within the identity industry and this includes levels of inherent bias in technologies. A sign of change in the ecosystem, most credible solution providers are now attaining top NIST rankings for accuracy in tech that proves mitigation of bias between the genders and different demographic groups.
The industry’s awareness and attention to bias is a prime example of why identity is one of the most diversifying sectors which not only aims to promote fair representation and treatment in the professional working environment, but also ensures that the need to identify and scrutinise everyone as a potential threat is fair, universal and not discriminatory based on race, gender or other factors.
It is CEOs and founders that are making gender diversity a priority to address within their workforces, changing the landscape of the industry and faces that attend Identity Week. The term ‘quota’ is counterproductive to our objectives for true equality; the natural tide change in the industry supporting female talent in identity is enabling a seamless process of ensuring everyone who is part of the identity ecosystem is in the same room at Identity Week Europe, Asia and America.
Identity Week sessions focus on gender based issues, including barriers to women working and obtaining leadership roles, which has an impact on preventing technical progress of technologies and identity-related use cases.
Identity Week Europe has an impressive lineup of female speakers. They include:
Keily Blair, Chief Strategy & Operations Officer (CSOO), OnlyFans
Anouk Cartrysse, R&D Advisor, Netherlands Ministry of the Interior
Louise Cole, Head Customer Experience & Facilitation, IATA
Catherine Fankhauser, Director of Identity Security Solutions, Sicpa
Natalie Jones, Director, Digital Identity, Government Digital Service, UK Cabinet Office
Marit Hoefsloot, Concept developer, Waag futurelab
