44th WOMENinICT Breakfast Salon at EBCONT: Let’s Talk Allyship!

A breakfast with a view , in every sense of the word. For the 44th WOMENinICT Breakfast Salon, Ilse Merkinger-Boira, WOMENinICT Ambassador and People Counselor & PR Lead at EBCONT, and Markus Stangl, Managing Director at EBCONT, welcomed the community to the Millennium Tower. With panoramic views across Vienna, the morning focused on a topic that has been important to us for some time: “Let’s Talk Allyship: Men as Allies in IT.”

WOMENinICT was founded in 2020 as a Special Interest Group of VÖSI (Austrian Association for Software Innovations) and has grown into Austria’s largest network for women in ICT, with more than 250 ambassadors and role models from different career levels and ICT professions. Its work is built around three key pillars: visibility & role models, networking & community, and education & mentoring. Its aim is to inspire more girls and women to pursue careers in ICT, strengthen connections among women within the industry, and advance topics such as equal opportunities and digital gender fairness.

The Breakfast Salon is one of the formats that brings the community together to discuss current issues and generate new ideas for greater equality of opportunity across the industry.

During this inspiring morning high above Vienna, Bettina Richter, Experience & DEI Lead at EBCONT, and Horst Valentin from SAP shared insights into our Male Allyship initiative and what we have learned so far.

The journey began in December 2024 with an initial workshop exclusively for male leaders at EBCONT. Philipp Poropat has been part of the initiative from the very beginning, supporting it as an internal Male Ally and bringing the perspective of male leaders into the shared learning process.

Because gender diversity cannot be the responsibility of women alone. Sustainable change must also happen where structures are shaped, decisions are made, and corporate culture is put into practice.

Across four dialogue workshops, our male leaders explored topics including privilege, unconscious bias, inclusion, mentoring, and sponsorship. The discussions centered around questions such as: Which privileges might I not even be aware of? Who is given space and visibility? And how can I use my position to actively create change?

Awareness is the first step. But allyship becomes most meaningful in our everyday actions: when we speak up against sexism, consciously make space for female colleagues, highlight their achievements, and actively seek out different perspectives.

Transformation requires continuous reflection – and the courage to accept that we may not immediately have an answer to every question. What matters is turning insights into action.

That is why the next step will follow in October 2026. In a follow-up session, previous participants will come together with WOMEN@EBCONT leaders to continue the work and bring their perspectives together. In particular, we want to revisit the key “aha” moments from the journey so far. What has already changed? Which insights have been put into practice? And what further measures can we derive from what we have learned? The focus will be on making the shift from knowing to doing.

For us, the WOMENinICT Breakfast Salon marked the first deliberate step in taking this conversation beyond EBCONT.

We want to share our experiences, learn from others, and connect with more companies and allies who are ready to embark on their own Male Allyship journey. By doing so, individual experiences can evolve into best practices that can help other organizations as well.

Because sustainable change does not come from individual behavior alone. We also need to address the structures themselves: decision-making processes, career opportunities, leadership, visibility, and the question of who is heard and who has the opportunity to influence decisions.
At EBCONT, we have started a journey. Now we want to widen the circle. Because real change can only happen together.

Thank you to WOMENinICT – especially Christine Wahlmüller-Schiller – to Bettina Richter and Philipp Poropat from EBCONT, Horst Valentin from SAP, and all participants of the 44th Breakfast Salon for the open exchange and their willingness to keep thinking, learning, and moving forward together.

Let’s talk Allyship. Let’s share what works. And let’s create change – together.