LinkedIn·Monday, 24 August 2026·2d ago

𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 (𝘤𝘰)𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦…

Elke Kraemer

Helping tech companies retain & attract more women in tech to boost innovation | Founder Clusity, the community of women in tech in Belgium

𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 (𝘤𝘰)𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘔? Researchers showed 29,243 Ecuadorian high schoolers video interviews with STEM role models AND entrepreneurship role models, side by side. (Francisco Pablo Flores Taipe, Mona Mensmann) Goal: inspire more kids into STEM. The result: Girls who saw both became LESS likely to pick a STEM major, and picked business instead. And boys shifted away from STEM too! STEM came across as heavier, more masculine, and more stigmatized. Entrepreneurship felt more accessible. That contrast between the two fields drove the shift. Independant of the gender of the role model. Meanwhile, Dealroom.co (thx Orla Browne) published last week that 2026 is the best year ever for women-founded startups raising megarounds ($100M+). By August 20th there wer 68 rounds already, that's beating full-year record in 2025 of 62 rounds. The share of all rounds: 9.7%, the highest ever measured, up from 2% for the years before! What if the mechanism (role models + success stories) plays out on a bigger stage? The more we celebrate women's success in business, the easier it becomes for ambitious women to picture themselves there. While technical STEM careers risk staying invisible. :o Students (and of course graduates, early career talent, etc. too) are reacting to what they can see. So if STEM (or the tech-industry) feels stigmatized, it's a fact about what we've shown them so far. And what we accept women to experience day by day. And that we can change. For every tech company: The talent who could join your engineering team is deciding right now whether STEM feels like "their" world. That decision is shaped by what they see, hear and what we transmit. Let's make sure what they see is visible, and true: women who are thriving in tech, doing the work, owning the wins. Just being happy to work in Tech. Let’s think together how we can present an attractive version of STEM to women and men! This is exactly where we work at Clusity | The women in tech community: helping companies make their technical women visible, so attracting and keeping them becomes an everyday, consciously made action, not an afterthought. Do you see a pattern too?