Booking.com to celebrate Women in Tech this March

March 8^th marks International Women’s Day, a worldwide celebration of the incredible achievements of women around the world. But who says this has to end at just one day? This year, Booking.com, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies and a digital technology leader, is honouring International Women’s Day with a month-long series of events in Toronto that celebrate and empower women working in technology, an industry still largely dominated by men.

 Booking.com has partnered with Canada Learning Code, an organization dedicated to ensuring all Canadians – particularly woman and girls – are given equal opportunity to access education in tech. To help provide women with the tools they need to succeed in the tech industry, Booking.com is collaborating with the organization to run a two-part Ladies Learning Code workshop on March 21^st and 28^th.

This $65 introductory workshop is open to anyone in Toronto and will teach basic coding skills in an empowering environment. Plus - attendees will get to build their own website!

Participants of this special workshop will also have the chance to win a $500 Booking.com travel credit which can be used at any of the 1.6 million properties available on the site, as well as a professional one-hour mentorship session with a top female tech leader at Booking.com. To enter, they must tweet about a woman that inspires them using the hashtag #BookingFEMpowers. Winners will be announced at the start of the second workshop on Wednesday March 28^th.

“Connecting with strong female role models is crucial to help women advance their careers, especially in the tech industry. Our recent research revealed that 90% of female respondents would be inspired to chase their dreams just by seeing more women in leadership roles,” says Gillian Tans, Booking.com's CEO. “Booking.com explores female mentorship opportunities wherever we can so that we can continue to support women to progress and excel in their careers.”

In addition to the upcoming workshop, Booking.com kicked off the month last night with an inspirational panel discussion that featured leading female tech experts at the Toronto Partner Service office. The conversation, led by Daniela Musse, Booking.com’s Canadian Area Manager, put a spotlight on gender disparity issues within the tech industry by raising questions around barriers to success and highlighting ideas on how to inspire more women to consider a career in tech. The panel included: Melissa Sariffodeen, CEO & Co-founder of Canada Learning Code; Dr. Helen Papagiannis, a world-leading expert in the field of Augmented Reality; Huda Idrees, the founder and CEO of Dot Health; and Ioana Popa, Strategy Manager at Booking.com.