LMD MARCH 2026 COVER STORY

GIVE TO GAIN

“There isn’t any restrict to what we, as ladies, can accomplish…”

Michelle Obama

Innovation is commonly described as aggressive – sooner concepts, ahead considering and fixed progress. But, probably the most significant innovation hardly ever occurs alone. It grows by means of collaboration, shared studying and alternative.

That’s why the Worldwide Ladies’s Day 2026 theme – Give to Acquire – is related to ladies who embrace know-how and pursue innovation. It reminds us that progress shouldn’t be a race the place one individual’s success comes at one other’s expense. When information and assist are shared, the complete system turns into stronger.

Tech is without doubt one of the quickest evolving industries on the earth. It shapes how we study, work, talk, handle cash and entry healthcare.

And girls convey views formed by totally different experiences, duties and methods of considering. When they’re concerned in designing merchandise, main groups or constructing startups, innovation turns into extra balanced and related to wider communities.

What’s extra, ladies have constantly demonstrated equal functionality in technical fields. The actual hole lies in entry – to management alternatives, funding, networks and environments that allow long-term profession progress. That is the place the theme ‘give to realize’ turns into highly effective.

A transparent gender hole stays – even in most of the world’s largest tech corporations

PROGRESS AND GAPS Census information within the US affirms that ladies have made notable progress within the workforce vis-à-vis science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic (STEM), rising from a mere eight % of STEM workers in 1970 to round 28 % final 12 months.

But, a transparent gender hole stays – even in most of the world’s largest tech corporations.

Throughout Google, Apple, Fb (Meta), Amazon and Microsoft, ladies symbolize 29-45 % of workers with an general common of about 31 %. Illustration is highest at entry degree however steadily declines at mid-level and drops additional relating to senior management.

Sri Lanka displays the same sample, though encouraging indicators counsel a gradual enchancment. The nation’s know-how business has taken strides with many company IT environments more and more basing recruitment and efficiency analysis on advantage quite than gender – a significant shift from previous office norms.

Nevertheless, the business stays largely male dominated, notably in entrepreneurship. Strengthening ladies’s participation as technopreneurs has the potential not solely to empower people but additionally to drive broader financial improvement. The Sri Lanka Affiliation for Software program and Providers Corporations (SLASSCOM), the nationwide chamber for the information and innovation business, has set an formidable purpose to bridge this hole.

Based in 2020, SLASSCOM’s Ladies Technopreneurs Discussion board works to foster feminine led tech startups and contribute to the purpose of 1,000 new startups by 2030.

A joint SLASSCOM–IFC report identifies ‘technopreneurship’ as an rising profession path with 82 % of technopreneurs underneath 40. Within the youngest age group (underneath 24), males outnumber ladies by two to 1. This mirrors international entrepreneurship traits, the place participation peaks between 25 and 34 earlier than petering out.

Sri Lankan technopreneurs are typically effectively certified with greater than two-thirds holding a primary diploma or larger. Nevertheless, the youthful technopreneur panorama is essentially male dominated with many males getting into the sphere early, typically as undergraduates with early ICT publicity.

Against this, ladies are inclined to enter technopreneurship later, typically with postgraduate {qualifications}. This can be linked to decrease participation in ICT research at earlier schooling phases. Mid-career can be the place gaps widen extra broadly.

Private duties, life transitions and inflexible work constructions could make it troublesome for girls to stay on the identical trajectory.

Ladies in tech should not solely contributing to the current; they’re shaping the way forward for innovation

THE FLIP SIDE ‘Give to realize’ is commonly framed when it comes to what organisations ought to do for girls. That’s important; however it is usually a shared accountability. Ladies give of their time, effort, braveness and ambition. Progress typically comes from stepping ahead, taking dangers and staying current in resolution making processes.

Sri Lanka, like many international locations, goals to develop as a information and innovation pushed economic system. Ladies in tech should not solely contributing to the current; they’re shaping the way forward for innovation, shifting the narrative from competitors to collaboration and shared progress.

That’s the coronary heart of ‘give to realize.’ In know-how, the place change is fixed, robust foundations are what allow innovation to final. As Serena Williams places it, “the success of each girl ought to be the inspiration to a different.”

– Compiled by Tamara Rebeira

Collective Momentum

Q: Worldwide Ladies’s Day highlights collective power. How does collaboration amongst ladies speed up innovation?

A: Innovation is commonly portrayed as the results of particular person brilliance – a single thought, a single disruptor. In follow, the simplest innovation I’ve seen comes from one thing far much less dramatic: the power to assume clearly, collectively.

If you articulate an thought to others, to not defend it however take a look at it, weaknesses floor early and assumptions are challenged. That course of forces readability. By bringing numerous views into these conversations, the standard of choices improves as a result of concepts are examined not just for pace however for context, influence and sustainability.

This angle typically emerges extra clearly when numerous voices are a part of the dialogue, notably in advanced environments. The outcome shouldn’t be slower resolution making however higher judgement.

Nevertheless, collaboration solely works when folks really feel protected sufficient to be sincere. Psychological security shouldn’t be a cultural ‘good to have’; it’s a sensible requirement for innovation that really works.

Q: What recommendation would you supply younger ladies who wish to lead, innovate and form the way forward for know-how?

A: Grasp your craft first. Early in my profession, the technical grounding I gained by means of the CA Sri Lanka programme and my time at Ernst & Younger gave me the boldness that no title ever may. Deep experience creates credibility and credibility offers you a voice.

As soon as that basis is in place, search experiences that stretch you. Progress hardly ever comes from consolation; it comes from unfamiliar environments, failed makes an attempt and studying how one can get well with higher judgement. Construct your assist system deliberately – discover people who find themselves prepared to let you know the reality and mentors who’ve navigated paths you aspire to take.

And as importantly, be prepared to do this for others. Impression is constructed by means of outcomes, not visibility – visibility tends to comply with substance, not the opposite means round.

Supportive organisational practices – versatile work fashions, hybrid preparations and inclusive cultures – should not perks; they’re enablers

Q: How ought to organisations measure progress relating to gender fairness in tech – and what metrics actually matter?

A: Illustration numbers alone don’t inform us whether or not techniques really work. The metrics that matter present outcomes: retention by degree, time to promotion, pay fairness, and entry to high-impact and visual work.

Having constructed a profession whereas elevating a baby, I’ve seen firsthand how shortly organisational assumptions can change as soon as ladies grow to be moms.

Supportive organisational practices – versatile work fashions, hybrid preparations and inclusive cultures – should not perks; they’re enablers. With out them, even probably the most succesful expertise ultimately leaves. Fairness turns into actual when techniques permit folks to carry out constantly over time, not solely when intentions are effectively articulated.

Q: How can business, academia, and policymakers work collectively, to speed up the entry and retention of ladies in tech?

A: This requires long-term alignment, not remoted initiatives. The pipeline problem begins early in school degree. Business must work extra intently with schooling techniques to offer actual world publicity by means of internships, mentorship and practitioners who can bridge principle and software.

I see the significance of early publicity firsthand. With my 10 12 months previous daughter, I make a aware effort to introduce her to international improvements and rising traits.

She has already discovered to make use of AI instruments to create easy options that assist her research. This early familiarity builds confidence and curiosity, and helps kids see know-how not as one thing intimidating however a software they’ll actively use and form.

That is the place coverage and infrastructure matter: childcare entry, protected transportation and techniques that recognise non-linear profession paths. When business, academia and policymakers transfer in alignment, ladies should not solely inspired to embrace know-how, they’re capable of keep, develop and lead.

Inclusive Innovation

Q: On Worldwide Ladies’s Day, conversations typically centre on equality and empowerment. How does the theme ‘give to realize’ deepen that dialog?

A: The theme ‘give to realize’ deepens the dialog by shifting focus from particular person development to collective progress.

True empowerment occurs when ladies, organisations and societies make investments time, entry, information and alternative in others, particularly those that have been traditionally excluded.

After we present mentorship, visibility and equitable pathways, we don’t lose energy; we multiply it. The features embrace stronger innovation, inclusive management and sustainable progress that profit everybody. The theme reminds us that equality shouldn’t be a zero-sum recreation; it’s a shared end result constructed by means of intentional collaboration, allyship and the braveness to uplift others as we rise collectively.

Q: Know-how is commonly seen as a fantastic equaliser… has it actually levelled the taking part in subject for girls?

A: Know-how holds immense promise as a fantastic equaliser nevertheless it hasn’t but absolutely levelled the taking part in subject for girls. Whereas digital entry has opened doorways to schooling, careers and entrepreneurship, systemic gaps nonetheless persist in illustration, management, funding and resolution making.

Bias, each human and algorithmic, continues to form alternatives and outcomes. True fairness in tech requires greater than entry to instruments; it calls for inclusive design, early publicity for ladies, supportive insurance policies and intentional funding in ladies’s expertise.

Know-how is usually a highly effective enabler however solely when fairness is constructed into the techniques that create, govern and scale it.

Q: What interventions are only in encouraging younger women and girls to pursue STEM and tech associated careers?

A: The simplest interventions begin early, and deal with each entry and mindset. Publicity to STEM in school degree, hands-on studying and visual feminine position fashions assist ladies see themselves in know-how careers.

Mentorship, business led programmes, and inclusive curricula construct confidence and sensible abilities, whereas scholarships and internships
scale back structural limitations.

Equally vital is creating protected, supportive environments the place curiosity is inspired and failure is normalised. For girls, reskilling pathways, versatile work choices and management improvement are key.

When households, colleges, business and policymakers work collectively, STEM turns into not an exception for ladies however an anticipated and achievable path.

When accountability is constructed into efficiency metrics and governance, inclusion strikes from a ‘good to have’ to a enterprise and societal crucial

Q: Do you consider that leaders ought to be held accountable for advancing ladies in innovation and know-how?

A: Sure, leaders have to be held accountable for advancing ladies in innovation and know-how.

Actual progress doesn’t occur by means of intent alone; it requires measurable motion, clear targets and sustained dedication. Leaders form tradition, affect hiring and funding selections, and decide who has entry to alternative and management pathways.

When accountability is constructed into efficiency metrics and governance, inclusion strikes from a ‘good to have’ to a enterprise and societal crucial. Advancing ladies in tech shouldn’t be solely about equity; it drives innovation, higher resolution making and long-term competitiveness.

Management accountability ensures that fairness is embedded into techniques, quite than being left to particular person effort or goodwill.

Q: If we revisit this dialog in 5 years, what adjustments would you hope to see for girls in tech and innovation?

A: In 5 years, I hope to see ladies absolutely represented throughout the tech and innovation ecosystem – not merely in entry degree roles however as founders, buyers, engineers and resolution makers.

Success would imply fewer conversations about breaking limitations and extra about constructing influence. I’d wish to see equitable entry to funding, inclusive AI and information techniques, and workplaces designed for numerous life realities.

Importantly, seeing Sri Lanka’s schooling insurance policies align to offer younger ladies higher entry to all fields – and equip them with information in know-how and innovation – will make sure that they’ll pursue any path confidently and successfully.

Shared Success

Q: Innovation is commonly related to competitors. How does this 12 months’s Worldwide Ladies’s Day theme ‘give to realize’ problem this narrative, in your opinion?

A: For a very long time, innovation has been framed as a race, sooner concepts, louder disruption, and clear winners and losers. The ‘give to realize’ theme gently challenges that mindset and invitations a special type of progress.

In my expertise, innovation grows when information is shared, not guarded. When folks make investments time, insights and entry in others, concepts journey and evolve sooner. In an age formed by AI, this turns into much more related.

Know-how strikes shortly however studying compounds when it’s collective. Giving doesn’t weaken benefit; it strengthens it, typically in methods we can’t instantly measure.

Q: In your expertise, how do ladies leaders method innovation in another way – notably when it comes to influence, inclusivity or long-term worth creation?

A: Many ladies method innovation with an instinctive sense of accountability. There may be typically a pause earlier than motion – a necessity to grasp context, penalties and other people.

What is commonly labelled as ‘mushy’ performs a important position right here.

The flexibility to nurture concepts, maintain a number of truths directly and join folks throughout views offers innovation depth.

Ladies are pure multitaskers and intuitive connectors. These should not secondary abilities; they’re strategic strengths, particularly in advanced environments the place long-term worth issues greater than short-term wins. That is the place innovation stops being performative and begins turning into sustainable.

Q: What systemic limitations nonetheless restrict ladies’s potential to steer innovation? And the way can these limitations be damaged down?

A: At this time, limitations are much less seen however nonetheless current. They present up in entry to alternatives, publicity to rising know-how and confidence constructing experiences early in a profession. That is additionally a second of alternative.

In an age of speedy technological development and AI, staying inside acquainted lanes can quietly restrict progress. Shifting out of consolation zones, making an attempt new issues and staying forward of the curve has grow to be vital for everybody… however particularly for girls who’ve traditionally been inspired to play protected.

AI presents a robust entry level. It lowers the barrier to studying, experimentation and reinvention. When ladies have interaction with know-how proactively, not ready to be invited, management turns into much less about permission and extra about risk. That shift is the place limitations actually start to loosen.

When ladies carry others by creating entry and confidence, innovation turns into a shared legacy quite than a person achievementWhen ladies carry others by creating entry and confidence, innovation turns into a shared legacy quite than a person achievement

Q: What sensible steps can corporations take to speed up the development of ladies in technical and innovation pushed roles?

A: Create protected areas for studying and experimentation. Encourage curiosity with out penalty. AI platforms at present allow ladies to discover abilities, take a look at concepts and construct confidence at their very own tempo. Past instruments, publicity issues.

Entry to significant tasks, resolution making rooms and management sponsorship makes a tangible distinction.

Flexibility is equally vital. Innovation thrives when individuals are allowed to combine life and work, quite than consistently compartmentalise. When ladies are supported to point out up absolutely, creativity follows naturally.

Q: In your evaluation, what duties do ladies leaders have in creating pathways for the subsequent technology of innovators?

A: Ladies leaders have a accountability to make the trail clearer than it was for them. Which means sharing information brazenly, normalising exploration and main with out apology.

It additionally means modelling a management model rooted in integrity and generosity.

When ladies carry others by creating entry and confidence, innovation turns into a shared legacy quite than a person achievement. Progress multiplies when it’s handed on – and that to me, is the true which means of ‘give to realize.’

Creating Worth

Q: How do you outline innovation, past know-how or new merchandise?

A: I outline innovation as worth creation that reshapes behaviour and improves lives, not merely the introduction of recent tech. It begins by questioning assumptions, chopping by means of complexities and designing techniques that serve actual folks, quite than idealised fashions or summary frameworks.

True innovation typically emerges in areas the place change is sluggish or unsure. Know-how can speed up progress however its influence relies upon fully on how thoughtfully it’s utilized.

Innovation is an ongoing strategy of testing, studying shortly, shifting tradition and having the braveness to let go of what now not works. At its coronary heart, innovation is each instinctive and intentional.

Q: Why is it vital to have extra ladies shaping innovation, quite than merely adopting it?

A: Innovation succeeds when it displays actuality precisely and solves actual, lived issues. When selections are formed by a single restricted perspective, options are sometimes restricted and fail to serve numerous segments of society they’re meant to assist.

Ladies convey distinct experiences, insights and methods of considering, which strengthens resolution making, and expands the potential for significant, sensible and inclusive innovation.

Q: Have you ever witnessed tangible variations in outcomes when ladies are concerned on the design or resolution making stage?

A: instance of this can be a healthcare platform that didn’t begin by asking ‘how will we digitise healthcare? It started with ‘the place does the system fail ladies?’

As a result of ladies outlined the issue by means of lived expertise, it focussed on fertility, being pregnant loss, postpartum psychological well being, menopause and care throughout a lady’s lifecycle.

The outcome was a special type of product: outcomes based mostly care and measurable reductions in healthcare prices. This isn’t about equity or optics; it’s about outcomes and constructing techniques that really work.

Organisations ought to actively assist ladies in rethinking worth chains and enterprise fashions from the bottom up. After they do this, they construct stronger, smarter and extra inclusive ecosystems.

Organisations ought to actively assist ladies in rethinking worth chains and enterprise fashions from the bottom up

Q: What’s been probably the most notable problem you’ve confronted as a lady innovator – and the way did you overcome it?

A: One of the hanging challenges was not the technical or strategic enterprise hurdles; it was the quiet expectations and assumptions that form how folks understand who can lead and who can remedy issues.

In lots of settings, braveness isn’t adequate; you additionally should cope with the unstated perception that sure roles or concepts by some means match an anticipated ‘sort’ of innovator or chief.

I noticed this early on, after I was launching my organisation. The pushback wasn’t at all times a blunt ‘no’; it was a silent disbelief that somebody with my background may make one thing daring work.

Somewhat than internalising these doubts, I stayed focussed on outcomes. I doubled down on defining issues clearly, aligning groups round objective and delivering measurable impacts.

Over time, that focus shifted conversations and opened new alternatives for myself and others. Innovation thrives once we belief diverseperspectives and reveal what’s potential by means of outcomes, not stereotypes.

Q: What wants to vary to make sure that ladies innovators are supported, funded and heard?

A: Good intentions alone aren’t sufficient to assist ladies innovators. We have to shift mindsets, rethink constructions and make house for numerous voices to steer with authority.

Equally vital is creating techniques the place ladies put money into and assist different ladies.

That is what we give attention to at my organisation by means of AccelerateHer, GRIT and HerCapital – we construct pathways, sources and communities that empower ladies to flourish.

Balanced Progress

Q: This 12 months’s Worldwide Ladies’s Day theme is ‘give to realize.’ What does this imply within the context of ladies’s participation and management within the tech business?

A: The theme is commonly interpreted as one thing organisations should do for girls – i.e. higher insurance policies, safer areas and clearer profession ladders.

Whereas important, the thought goes deeper. It’s a shared accountability and the true features accrue solely when either side give with intent.

From an organisational perspective, giving means creating environments the place ladies can construct long-term careers, entry to management alternatives, flexibility throughout life phases and resolution making areas the place numerous voices are genuinely heard. When corporations make investments this manner, the returns are seen.

Nevertheless, there may be one other aspect that we don’t discuss sufficient…

Ladies should additionally give time, effort, braveness and ambition. Progress comes from stepping ahead, taking dangers and staying within the room lengthy sufficient to expertise outcomes. We can’t count on optimistic discrimination; employers should stay equal alternative suppliers.

Ladies convey a special dimension to management with robust emotional intelligence, balanced danger taking and resolution making, and multitasking. In my expertise, many worldwide purchasers actively search feminine leaders, recognising the worth this attitude brings to constructing sustainable groups.

So ‘give to realize’ is strategic. When organisations give deliberately and ladies give boldly, the tech business features by means of stronger management, higher out-comes and a future that’s way more inclusive by design.

Q: And the place do you consider progress for girls in know-how has been too sluggish – and what pressing actions are wanted to shut the gaps?

A: Progress inside company know-how environments has been encouraging. In lots of IT corporations, recruitment, efficiency analysis and profession development are largely advantage pushed, quite than gender based mostly. This marks a major shift from a decade in the past.

Nevertheless, we nonetheless have too few ladies in senior management and technical management roles. A part of this stems from early pipeline points whereby ladies are sometimes steered away from STEM even earlier than they enter the workforce. The larger challenge is retention and development.

Ladies enter tech however go away at disproportionate charges of their mid to late careers – typically for private causes – simply as they’d sometimes transfer into management. Programs should higher deal with this leakage.

Progress is slower within the startup ecosystem. Ladies founders typically face better inspection when in search of funding and market entry, being requested extra questions and held to totally different requirements than their male counterparts.

The Ladies Technopreneur Report printed by the Sri Lanka Affiliation for Software program Providers Corporations (SLASSCOM) and IFC highlights this hole. Closing it requires better transparency in funding selections, intentional assist for girls entrepreneurs, and clearer pathways to determine and develop high-potential ladies leaders early.

Ladies enter tech however go away at disproportionate charges of their mid to late careers – typically for private causes

Q: How can organisations transfer past commitments and conversations to measurable motion relating to gender fairness in tech?

A: It’s about creating situations that permit folks to succeed at totally different life phases. Versatile work fashions, end result based mostly efficiency measurement and structured re-entry pathways after profession breaks are sensible beginning factors.

Nevertheless, progress goes past flexibility. It requires clear profession development frameworks, gender balanced management pipelines, and information pushed monitoring of recruitment, promotions and retention.

Organisations should additionally determine high-potential ladies early, and put money into their progress by means of sponsorship, management publicity and stretch roles.

Q: Past insurance policies, what cultural shifts should organisations make to really assist ladies in innovation led roles?

A: One of the vital cultural shifts organisations should make is to cease treating innovation as a separate operate. At 99X, innovation is a part of our DNA and on a regular basis work. It isn’t owned by a particular crew; everybody is anticipated to query, enhance and experiment.

This creates house for extra voices – together with ladies – to contribute with out competitors. In such cultures, we transfer from ‘show your self’ to ‘we consider in you’ and even failures are celebrated. When organisations recognise and belief these types of management, they unlock a extra sustainable and innovation pipeline.