Women in tech Barcelona: Top 20+ meetups, programmes and people
When you’re a woman seeking fulfilment and success in a male-dominated industry, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong. With women holding only around 20% of tech jobs and 25% of leadership positions in tech, we have a long way to go until we achieve gender parity and make women feel at home in an industry that’s very much theirs, too.
Until that happens, the least we can do is support women who have started their journey in tech and make sure that young girls have the opportunity to consider STEM career paths and find role models to look up to.
For this, we need initiatives that put women in the forefront, persistently and unapologetically. Such communities abound in Barcelona, a city where women in tech and startups never have to feel alone.
The 20+ organisations we’ve listed below are working towards building a better world for women in tech and business every single day. These meetup groups, non-profit organisations, conferences and schools are there for women throughout their journeys, and they can be your rock, too.
We weren’t able to list them all here, but many of Barcelona’s incubators and accelerators are also involved in promoting diversity and supporting female techies and entrepreneurs. Don’t forget to check them out, too!
Top resources for women in tech and startups
Accelerate Network Spain | AllWomen | adaJS | Barcelona Women’s Network | codebar Barcelona | CodeOp | Downtown Offices | FemDevs | Inspiring Girls | LIDERA (Barcelona Activa) | Mujeres en SEO | Professional Women’s Network Barcelona | SheCommerce Barcelona | SheStartup by AllWomen | The Tell Me More Project | Women4Tech (GSMA) | Women in Blockchain Barcelona | WomenInMobile | Women TechMakers Barcelona | Women Who Code Barcelona
Accelerate Network Spain
Category: communities, meetup groups
How they help women: A community of young, ambitious women in Barcelona, Accelerate Network was launched with the aim of gathering bright minds and inspiring young women to reach their full potential and become future female leaders. They help women accelerate their professional growth through networking and workshops.
Who is it for: Young female professionals who aspire to become successful leaders.
Key team members: Accelerate Network’s CEO and Founder Victoria Gago also co-founded the European Blockchain Convention, Europe’s number one blockchain conference.
Website: Accelerate Network Spain
AllWomen
Category: schools
How they help women: AllWomen Academy offers practical data science, UX/UI design and product management courses for women, by women. They want to do away with the gender gap and give women the opportunity to become highly-skilled tech professionals through career shifts.
Their courses run for 10-24 weeks and require part-time or full-time commitment. All classes are held in a women-only environment. Once students complete their courses, AllWomen helps them land jobs at women-friendly companies.
They also aid companies in upskilling their teams, hiring female talent and achieving diversity.
Who is it for: Job changers or young women who want to pursue a career in data science, UX/UI or product management.
Key team members: AllWomen was co-founded by Laura Fernández (CEO) and Cecilia Tham, who also founded MOB, one of the first coworking spaces ever to open in Barcelona.
Website: AllWomen
adaJS
Category: meetup groups
How they help women: adaJS organises meetups and workshops for women interested in web development, especially using JavaScript. Their goal is to promote women’s presence in technology.
Who is it for: Anyone who wants to learn web development or polish their skills. No previous experience in IT is required.
Key team members: Sílvia Mur, senior frontend developer at Typeform.
Website: adaJS
Barcelona Women’s Network
Category: non-profit organisations
How they help women: BWN was established to foster friendship and understanding between women of various nationalities living in Barcelona. Their 200+ members come from more than 20 different countries. They organise monthly meetings and business networking sessions to provide support for local and expat women. BWN members also have a social purpose – they regularly participate in fundraising for local charities.
Who is it for: Women from all over the world living in Barcelona.
Key team members: President Mia Strandman and Vice President Cris Kristofits.
Website: Barcelona Women’s Network
codebar Barcelona
Category: coding schools
How they help women: A non-profit initiative, codebar gives underrepresented groups, including women, the opportunity to learn to code and find their calling in tech.
They run regular workshops which are free to attend, as well as one-off events where students can learn from experts. The workshops are run by highly-skilled coaches and hosted by local tech companies.
Who is it for: People from a variety of backgrounds who want to become full-time developers or are eager to learn the basics of coding.
Website: codebar Barcelona
CodeOp
Category: coding schools
How they help women: CodeOp is an international coding school for women and TGNC (transgender and gender non-conforming) people. They operate in Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur, offering bootcamps in full-stack development and big data engineering.
The school opens up new opportunities to its students, complete with a job offer guarantee.
Who is it for: Women, trans and gender non-conforming individuals who want to become full-time developers.
Key team members: Katrina Walker, CEO and Founder
Website: CodeOp
Downtown Offices
Category: communities, coworking spaces
How they help women: Downtown Offices is an international community of female entrepreneurs. Their mission is to help expat women deal with the challenges of starting and running a business in Barcelona.
Members are provided with all kinds of support, from mentorship to peer-to-peer groups and workshops, as well as legal, financial and HR consulting services. You can even rent a desk or an office space in their women-first work hub in Sant Gervasi.
To get to know them, join Downtown Offices at one of their monthly breakfasts (announced on their Facebook page) open to curious visitors.
Who is it for: Women who don’t want to be alone on their startup journey.
Key team members: Downtown Offices was founded by Astrid Aafjes, a passionate leader and social change advocate from the Netherlands who has dedicated her life to the empowerment of women. Read her story here!
FemDevs
Category: communities, meetup groups
How they help women: FemDevs is fighting for gender parity in the tech industry by promoting the participation of women in videogame development.
They organise meetups, conferences, workshops and exhibitions to showcase the work of the FemDevs community. They want to enable women to connect, share their experiences and be a part of a community.
Who is it for: Female videogame developers and women interested in learning about videogame development.
Key team members: Co-founders Rocío Tomé (psychologist, VR/AR/MR developer) and Estefanía Bitan (psychologist, gamification and transmedia storytelling expert).
Website: FemDevs
Inspiring Girls
Category: private organisations
How they help women: Inspiring Girls’ objective is to boost the self-confidence and ambition of school-age girls. They help girls expand their career expectations by showing them the wide variety of options they have when it comes to choosing a profession.
Inspiring Girls does this by working with volunteers – professional women from different sectors – who visit schools. They talk to young girls about their work, sharing their challenges and successes and answering questions.
Founded in the UK, Inspiring Girls arrived in Spain in 2016 and has inspired countless young girls since then.
Who is it for: Female professionals who want to inspire young girls by sharing their experience and teachers who would like to invite female role models to visit their schools.
Key team members: Founder Miriam Gonzalez Durántez.
Website: Inspiring Girls
LIDERA (Barcelona Activa)
Category: government programmes
How they help women: LIDERA (formerly Women Entrepreneurs School) is a range of programmes for female entrepreneurs offered by Barcelona Activa. They provide leadership training, coaching, programming courses, business support, startup services, help with fundraising and more.
The objective is to reduce the pay gap, boost women’s entrepreneurial attitudes and skills and create networking environments where women can thrive professionally.
Who is it for: Women who want to grow as entrepreneurs and leaders of organisations.
Website: LIDERA
Mujeres en SEO
Category: communities
How they help women: Mujeres en SEO has created an online directory of women working in search engine optimisation. They hope to give visibility to more than 100 experts so companies can easily find and contact them.
Who is it for: SEO specialists
Key team members: Aleyda Solis, international SEO consultant
Website: Mujeres en SEO
Professional Women’s Network Barcelona
Category: non-profit organisations
How they help women: PWN is working towards gender-balanced leadership by uniting women through networking events and supporting their professional development.
PWN Barcelona is one of 29 city networks of PWN Global.
Who is it for: Women who are leaders or preparing for their first leadership role.
Key team members: Cris Kristofits and Martina Kara.
Website: Professional Women’s Network Barcelona
SheCommerce Barcelona
Category: conferences
How they help women: SheCommerce Barcelona brings top marketing and ecommerce experts from around the world every summer for an intensive day of hands-on training.
It’s an event where ambitious young women get together and learn about dropshipping, Facebook and Instagram ads, influencer marketing and other ecommerce strategies. The laid-back and high-energy vibe attracts girls who dream of succeeding on their own.
Who is it for: Women who run their own businesses or want to launch an ecommerce company.
Key team members: SheCommerce founder Mirella Crespi also founded Women in Adtech, a non-profit organisation that supports female leadership in adtech through networking events, and PixelHaus Media, a growth agency for female-focused brands.
Website: SheCommerce
SheStartup by AllWomen
Category: conferences
How they help women: SheStartup is an event organised every few months by AllWomen, the Barcelona-based tech academy for women in partnership with BStartup by Banc Sabadell.
It’s a networking event, a job fair and a party all in one, with the aim of helping women in tech find each other and discover job opportunities. They invite local startups looking to diversify their teams by hiring female developers and hold masterclasses to support women’s professional development.
Who is it for: Female developers, data scientists, product managers, UX/UI specialists, social media managers, designers, digital marketers and intrapreneurs looking for a job or a community to hang out with.
Website: SheStartup by AllWomen
The Tell Me More Project
Category: communities, meetup groups
How they help women: Networking can be intimidating and difficult to navigate – especially if you’re a beginner. How are you supposed to act, what are you supposed to say?
According to the creators of the Tell Me More Project, there is no one way to network. They’re here to help those who are new to networking or feel insecure about their skills adopt the right mindset and approach to become what they call a superconnector.
They organise events and offer coaching sessions for anyone looking to step up their networking game. They’re great at finding the networking strategy that works best for you – and they’ll teach you how to put it into practice.
Who is it for: Anyone who wants to go out there and make new connections, but isn’t a natural.
Key team members: Cris Kristofits and Melissa Grossman, the co-founders of the Tell Me More Project are both master networkers – whenever you bump into them at an event in Barcelona, they’ll introduce you to at least three people they think you should meet. Cris is also Vice President at Barcelona Women’s Network and PWN Barcelona.
Women4Tech (GSMA)
Category: conferences
How they help women: Women4Tech is a programme of the Mobile World Congress that takes place each year during the MWC and 4YFN. It focuses on the transformational power of diversity in corporate culture. The series of events and activities include speed-coaching and networking sessions, the Women4Tech Summit, Industry Leadership Awards, interactive workshops and more.
Who is it for: Anyone interested in mobile tech and the impact of women in the industry.
Website: GSMA Women4Tech, Women4Tech at 4YFN
Women in Blockchain Barcelona
Category: communities, meetup groups
How they help women: Women in Blockchain aims to share knowledge and spread the word about blockchain and why it’s important for our society while giving women working in the field of DLTs and blockchain a voice.
The ultimate goal is to build a tool that people can use to redefine layers of our society like governance, economy and privacy, and move towards a decentralised model.
WIBB organises talks, technical workshops and panel discussions, then gathers all the information shared at these events on a single platform.
Who is it for: Women (and men) in blockchain, anyone interested in learning more about distributed ledger technology.
Website: Women in Blockchain Barcelona
WomenInMobile
Category: non-profit organisations
How they help women: Passionate about gender equity and mobile technology, WomenInMobile aims to create a space for international women who work in the mobile industry to meet, connect and share. They organise networking events and talks with a 100% female speaker lineup.
Who is it for: Women shaping the future of mobile apps.
Key team members: Co-founders Vanessa Estorach and Celia Díaz-Pardo.
Website: WomenInMobile
Women TechMakers Barcelona
Category: communities, meetup groups
How they help women: Women TechMakers is a global initiative led by Google that aims to give visibility to women in tech. Their local chapters are dedicated to connecting, inspiring and encouraging tech-making women. They also help women develop the skills needed to advance in their careers and eventually become leaders.
Who is it for: Women who want to discuss the challenges that women in tech face, young women looking for mentors and female role models.
Key team members: Davinia García, software engineer and Women TechMakers Barcelona main organiser.
Website: Women TechMakers Barcelona
Women Who Code Barcelona
Category: communities, code schools
How they help women: Women Who Code is the largest global non-profit organisation that helps women achieve outstanding careers in tech. The Barcelona chapter has been holding technical workshops and talks by industry experts since 2016 and changed the lives of many (soon-to-be) female engineers.
Who is it for: Tech-curious women and female engineers.
Key team members: Directors Berta Devant, Silvia Perez and Marina Aisa.
Website: Women Who Code Barcelona
Are you a member of a meetup group or an initiative that we missed? Did you spot something we got wrong? Let us know in the comments and we’ll gladly update the list.
Hubbub Labs is a content marketing agency that helps education companies and startups grow. Book a 15-minute chat with us to talk about your marketing needs.