Exploring Gender Identity in Tech with Cynthia Fortlage from CAF Services

In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Cynthia Fortlage, Founder of CAF Services, who lets us in on her insight into creating safe spaces where all marginalised people experience a sense of belonging.

We start off by diving into a piece on emphasising and empowering the T in LGBTQ for transgender people in tech. Cynthia points out, “when we talk about trans, it’s imperative to understand for organisations that those are three very different identities.” What are those three identities? We discuss them in the episode.

The next piece by Rolling Stone lets us unpack the now-popular phrase ‘women in Tech. Cynthia astutely remarks, “when we talk about women in Tech, why do we want to use language that is exclusion based rather than inclusion based?”

As an award-winning gender consultant, we get to learn Cynthia’s valuable insights into the ever-present disparity in the Tech workforce. Only “23% of the leadership are female-identifying within these Tech companies”, she points out, as we dive into a piece on the ‘mass exodus’ of women at work during the pandemic.

Cynthia’s philosophy at CAF services is “acceptance without understanding.” Through this unique view, she strives to help organisations at the intersection of human rights, sexuality, gender, and privilege to create intentional cultures where people feel they belong.

As the episode continues to explore Cynthia’s experience of gender, leadership, and corporate life, we also discover her dream tech product and big prediction for the Tech for Good space this year.

To find out more about Cynthia and her work, check out her LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cfortlage, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cafservices/ and Website: Https://www.cynthiafortlage.com