Lero’s Professor Ita Richardson (University of Limerick) was among the winners at the 16th Annual Women Mean Business Conference & Awards in Dublin. The event recognises the achievements of businesswomen, academics and female entrepreneurs across Ireland.

Congratulating the award winners, Minister Emer Higgins, T.D. and Minister of State with responsibility for Business, Employment and Retail said: “I have always been passionate about supporting women in business. In my earlier days in corporate management and also as I pivoted into politics, fostering a more inclusive business environment was and continues to be an imperative of mine. In 2021, I introduced the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill, which aims to ensure Irish companies achieve significant gender balance on their boards.  In the same year, the Gender Pay Gap Information Act was signed into law. And in November 2022, the EU directive on gender balance on corporate boards came into force.  So there is plenty of positive momentum building, plenty of reasons to be hopeful that gender balance can and will be achieved.

“In May this year, Balance for Better Business – the independent review group established by Government, launched its five-year strategy, setting an ambitious 40%+ female representation target across both boards and leadership teams. I support this ambitious target, and as I review the names shortlisted for this year’s WMB Awards, I know that this target is achievable,” the Minister continued.

Five awards were presented at the occasion with Professor Richardson, Lero, UL presented with the WMB Empowering Women Award. Rose Kidd, President, Operations Delivery, ICON, took the overall WMB Businesswoman Award 2024 while Helene Hugel, Helium Arts received the FTI WMB Female Entrepreneur Award and Rebecca Keenan, Expleo Group, the Fidelity WMB Woman in Technology Award. Lauren McKenna, Positive Carbon received the Compass WMB Rising Star Award for 2024.

Professor Lionel Briand, Director of Lero, commended Professor Richardson for her work empowering women and congratulated her on receiving this award.

“I am immensely proud to see Ita honored with the WMB Empowering Women Award. This recognition is a testament to her outstanding contributions to research and academia, in particular in the area of equality. We have benefitted from Ita’s commitment to diversity and fairness in Lero since the centre was founded and there is no doubt that her work has paved the way for a more inclusive and equitable future for all those who pursue education and careers in computer science,” he said.

Host and WMB’s Managing Director, Rosemary Delaney, said: “I feel a real sense of pride when I stand in the Great Room at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel and soak up the tangible oomph that emanates – it’s simply contagious and reinforces the important mission we have at WMB to seek out, encourage and promote Ireland’s female role models across business. It is through these role models that positive change happens. I purposely use the word mission as for WMB it’s all about ‘spreading the word’ – Women account for over half our population with c59.9% (2023) female labour participation. However, Ireland’s gender pay gap stands at 9.6% (CSO). The challenges that contribute to this gap are many – from harmful gender norms and the motherhood penalty to the cost of childcare and parental leave policies.  Creating a fair and inclusive workplace, and attracting and retaining talent across all sectors, is imperative and requires a continuous, concerted effort. Our WMB Awards Finalists and our Winners here today, continue to play a key role in moving the dial for gender equality. Our conference theme is ‘Be the Change’, and I can say, with certainty, that ‘They ARE the Change’.”