W@TT: TEN YEARS sparking systems change
In 2015, Women at the Table emerged with a clear mission: to drive systems change by placing gender equality permanently at decision-making tables that shape our world.
We’re redesigning those tables entirely – transforming not just who sits at them, but how they function and whose interests they serve. This is what systems change demands.
We founded w@tt at a decisive moment, seeing structural connections where others saw isolated issues, positioning ourselves at the intersection of gender equality, systems and global governance. This perspective forged new pathways from international trade to technical standards to human rights in artificial intelligence.
We targeted the most powerful levers for transformation: economy, governance, and technology—recognizing these as an interconnected ecosystem that AI would soon bind even more tightly.
We launched because waiting wasn’t an option. Technology organizations weren’t addressing gender bias, while women’s rights groups weren’t engaging with emerging technologies. We bridged this gap when no one else would.
Our conviction: gender equality must be the beating heart of any new ecosystem—not an à la carte option. By uniting diverse expertise across disciplines, we create collaboration models that transcend boundaries.
As coalition builders focused on impact, we’ve inspired the first-ever work on women and economic empowerment at the World Trade Organization, gained commitments from standards bodies to address a world currently built for the “reference male,” and created frameworks for inclusive algorithms.
We’ve built our foundation on evidence, not hope: when half of humanity is sidelined, systems fail everyone. This is why we began. And this is why we continue.
