Friday, March 8, is International Women’s Day. A day when the world puts women in the spotlight. ‘City of Knowledge’ Leiden is not an exception. There, PLNT and The Makerscentrale put women first by bringing together female strenght.
Women are still underrepresented in the startup world. Recently published research from Techleap confirms what we have actually known for a long time: there are very few female founders or co-founders. Only 10 percent of all startups are founded by women. The fact that they also receive very little venture capital is unfortunately not news either: a paltry 0.7 percent by 2022.
Dr. Jean Grow of Marquette University examined gene diversity in the creative sector. This shows that in the Netherlands, less than 13% of workers in the creative sector are women. And of these, only 4.9% of women have the fucntion “Creative Director” on their cards. We are far behind the rest of the world, where 23.5% of all employees in the industry are women, with 16.1% female creative directors.
Closing the gap
High time to close the gap, think PLNT & De Makerscentrale. So on International Women’s Day, they see the perfect opportunity to provide a stage for women entrepreneurs. The day begins with a panel session at PLNT, where women professionals can connect through a facilitated open dialogue. Creative creators and (aspiring) entrepreneurs interested in exploring the challenges, triumphs and unique perspectives of women in entrepreneurship are therefore welcome. After the open dialogue, there will be an inspiring post-panel afternoon at De Makerscentrale, where the work of female artists from ROEM can be admired and a female DJ will close the afternoon.
The event will take place on March 8 at PLNT and The Makerscentrale from 1:45 to 5 p.m. Registration is required and can be done using the button below. The whole program will be in English.