March 8th marks International Women’s Day, and as a company that values equality and diversity from its very core, we wanted to share a few words.

The District Team is committed to equality internally within our team as well as in the product that we build for our clients and users. As a business, we already have in place a set of steps to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion in our hiring process. We truly believe that having the viewpoint from as many different groups of users as possible through research and development ensures that we build software that meets the needs of all users. We manage this by fair and balanced recruitment of users for research and ensure our multidisciplinary teams are represented on the build side.

District’s CTO Pete Hallett, said: “We are building an inclusive culture at District by asking all of our people at all levels to be aware of how unconscious bias affects us all, and steering everyone towards eliminating it. We are also committed to building a diverse and inclusive environment that attracts and retains the best talent and enables everyone here to thrive.”

District’s CEO & Founder is non-binary, so the company is truly routed in celebrating gender equality and building awareness in our industry around gender biases. Lee recently took part in Google’s Immersion Programme for underrepresented leaders and frequently speaks on stages around the world (currently virtually of course!) changing perspectives one step at a time in an industry that is heavily male-dominated. District’s CEO & Founder Lee Butz, said: “I’m very proud to have such a diverse team at District, we welcome anybody and everybody and emphasise diversity as a key priority in our hiring strategy across the board. As a nonbinary queer CEO, diversity and inclusivity are very close to my heart and is probably what helps drive our strong culture from the top down!”

International Women’s Day has several missions -supporting women in technology and women in work are two of them. Their website states that: “Bias is holding women and workplaces back” and particularly now, the impacts of the pandemic have negatively impacted women in work. “Almost three in four women experience bias at work, and those who do are more likely to leave their jobs. And women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities face more acute biases. Yet only one in three employees, including managers, challenges biased behavior when they see it.” Choosing to speak up and fight biases is one way that you can have a direct impact.

This year’s theme is all about choosing to challenge gender bias and inequality, asking people to take part by raising their hand to show that they choose to challenge. They have been asking people to share their snaps on social media with the hashtag #ChooseToChallenge Strike to spread awareness and to encourage further people to commit to helping forge an inclusive world. That’s why you’ll notice that in this article’s main image, the District team have come together to raise their hands, pledging to challenge and call out gender inequality.

We ask you to raise your hands with us to call out gender inequality and to support this worthy cause. Head to the International Women’s day website to find out more.