For the second year in a row, Sifted is teaming up with Sistafund and Station F to We are focusing on women because they deserve recognition — and right now, that recognition matters more than ever.
When reaching out to potential sponsors for female-focused events, I've lately been met with answers such as:
"After the 2022 crash, the rebuilding has to begin across the full breadth of the ecosystem. So we're not narrowing our focus right now. We want men, women and everyone in between…"
There is nothing wrong with that; however, it seems to have been a trend since the last Trump administration, where DEI has become less and less important. I've also noticed that the way people speak about women has changed.
Now, trashing women in tech has become fine to do in the open — whether it is their leadership style ("women-led departments have much more drama"), or a viral tweet mocking the female founder journey — from period app to panel speaker to trad wife (with 300k+ endorsements). And women who dare to call out tech bro culture are openly labelled "communist", "misandrist", likened to terrorists, or accused of carrying "deep emotional baggage."
Having written about tech since 2015, I find this strange.
I remember when VCs were openly criticised for not having female or mixed founding teams in their portfolio. Or headlines where male-only VCs were criticised for not hiring or promoting women to partners. And when investors had to answer why more than 80% of venture capital is still invested in all-male teams.
Now, those kinds of articles are quite rare to see. And whilst trashing women used to happen behind closed doors, I constantly see that kind of trashing being supported by the thousands on X.
This is not to say there aren't great men out there, too. There are plenty of them, and we write about them extensively. They raise big money, they take on the world with yet another agentic solution and get a large majority of media headlines.
But let us shine a light on the women being remarkable operators, great investors, impressive technical founders, or pillars of support for the ecosystem as a whole. Not only because they deserve it, but because when they email you with a great idea in the years to come, you should have them on your radar.
Today is the last day to nominate one of them to the list of 100 Women in Tech in Europe. We need this list to shine a light on great women, the next generation of role models, and to create the community — both regional and local — that women in tech often want to belong to. As one of the list’s jury members said to me:
"Slush CEOs have been 50/50 women and men. It never felt like an anomaly because incredible women and men have always existed everywhere. However, role models matter. That's why it means a lot to me to work with Sifted's 100 Women in Tech initiative to show any woman in doubt that they belong in tech."
Nominate your rising star here:
