Remote-IT Online Forum: Gender Equality, Hybrid Working and Digital Nomads

Across Europe, small and medium sized cities are working hard to provide both digital nomads and remote workers with the services and conditions they need to operate effectively. There is also a growing emphasis on gender equality in cities. But how do these themes relate to each other? What can cities do to support female digital nomads and hybrid workers? Are there any relevant examples of good practice that cities can learn from? This session will focus on how more gender equality can support digital nomads and hybrid workers. It will:

• Explore the relevance of gender equality within different city policies and practices relating to digital nomads and hybrid working. 
• Present some relevant case studies from EU cities 
• Support city practitioners to better understand how to account for, and promote, gender equality in their day-to-day work

Sally Kneeshaw is a policy consultant specialising in urban innovation, sustainability and inclusion, working on strategic development for cities and international networks. Sally led the first Gender Equal Cities initiative for URBACT, the European exchange and learning programme for cities. She is a capacity building specialist and Peer Review Expert for the European Urban Initiative. Her portfolio includes assignments for the London Borough of Lambeth Business, Culture and Investment Team, the Greater London Authority Social Integration Network and OneTech. 

Alison Partridge is a skilled, diligent, adaptable, and motivated professional with thematic expertise in tech, inclusive enterprise, entrepreneurship, and economic development in UK & European cities. She has long term experience of co-creating and implementing integrated policies and programmes in response to complex ever-changing contexts. For URBACT, since 2009 Alison has been Lead Expert of 5 different Action Planning and Transfer Networks, most recently TechTown and TechRevolution. She was one of the founding team behind the TechPlace community, led the programme’s digital transitions capacity building work and is now providing ad hoc expertise to the Remote-IT and C4Talent Action Planning Networks. Alongside her European work, Alison co-founded OneTech in London, a catalyst for inclusion in the startup ecosystem which provides underserved communities with the network, skills, and confidence to start and sustain a business.

Learning objectives

• To give an overview and examples of how and why to incorporate a gendered perspective in urban development and the IAP
• To introduce key concepts and examples from the URBACT 2022 Gender Equal Cities report
• To support reflection on embedding gender equality at local level in co-production of each IAP and ULG
• To provide a knowledge base that links to core Remote IT themes of digital nomads and remote working