TechFoundHer is on a mission to support female founders of tech startups to start, scale, grow and have more impact. We organise a programme of events across the year.
We value the full participation of everyone attending our events.

We value:

  • Being open. Members of the community are open to collaboration.
  • Respecting the privacy of each other and not sharing confidential information about a person or their business that is shared in a group workshop setting. 
  • Focusing on what is best for the community. We’re respectful of the processes set forth in the community, and we work within them.
  • Acknowledging time and effort. We’re respectful of the volunteer efforts that permeate the startup and developer community. We’re thoughtful when addressing the efforts of others, keeping in mind that oftentimes the labour was completed simply for the good of the community.
  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences. We’re receptive to constructive comments and criticism, as the experiences and skill sets of other members contribute to the whole of our efforts.
  • Showing empathy towards other community members. We’re attentive in our communications, whether in person or online, and we’re tactful when approaching differing views.
  • Being considerate. Members of the community are considerate of their peers – other startup folks and developers.
  • Being respectful. We’re respectful of others, their positions, their skills, their commitments, and their efforts.
  • Gracefully accepting constructive criticism. When we disagree, we are courteous in raising our issues.
  • Using welcoming and inclusive language. We’re accepting of all who wish to take part in our activities, fostering an environment where anyone can participate and everyone can make a difference.

The TechFoundHer community is dedicated to providing a positive experience and we aim to create a harassment free zone for everyone, regardless of age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion (or lack thereof), education, or socio-economic status.

We expect all participants, attendees, staff, volunteers, speakers and contributors at our events to be treated in a respectful, welcoming, and considerate manner and to behave accordingly.

👉 Other related information: TechFoundHer Child Protection and Vulnerable Adult Policy

What is harassment?

As many of you already know., harassment includes but is not limited to: dismissive or demeaning verbal, written, or pictorial communication; exhibition of graphic sexual images; deliberate intimidation; stalking; following; “outing” someone (disclosing personal information) without their consent; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; persistent misgendering after a pronoun preference is communicated; gender binarism; biological essentialism; unwelcome sexual exhibition or attention; unwarranted exclusion; and belittling language or action.

We encourage everyone to learn from each other and be mindful that mistakes may be made so be open to being corrected or learning from each other as we develop an understanding of each other’s experiences and perspectives.

Community members asked to stop any unacceptable behaviour are expected to comply immediately.

How we’ll respond

We reserve the right to mute or remove any attendee at any time for behaviour that makes any other attendee feel unsafe. with no refund of event tickets. More details are provided in our Response Procedure document.

Your role

If you are being harassed or notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact an appropriate* TechFoundHer organiser or crew member immediately. We will be visible at face to face events and contactable at virtual events.  We aim to take timely action and contact the venue security staff or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event. 

If it is an emergency or you feel unsafe please remove yourself from the situation and if appropriate call the Gardaí (112). 

If you witness or experience an encounter where you have some minor concerns it may be useful to call it out and offer those involved an opportunity to retract or apologise. But if in any doubt please let one of the TechFoundHer team know about your concerns in a timely manner ideally on the day of the event.  

There is also an option to communicate a concern to us via email info@techfoundher.com but please use the following template and DO NOT directly mention the names of any individuals.  

For example:

I attended the *** event on *** at *** in the role of ***. I would like to raise a concern about something I experienced or witnessed.  Please contact me on ***** phone number.

*appropriate means one of the TechFoundHer team not directly involved in the incident or impacted by a conflict of interest.
Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly community for everyone.

The Code of Conduct applies in official venue event spaces, including:

  • exhibit hall or vendor tabling area
  • panel and presentation rooms
  • hackathon or sprint rooms
  • tutorial or workshop rooms
  • poster session rooms
  • summit or meeting rooms
  • staff areas
  • con suite
  • meal areas
  • party suites
  • walkways, hallways, elevators, and stairs that connect any of the above spaces

The Code of Conduct applies to interactions with official event accounts on social media spaces and phone applications, including:

  • comments made on official conference phone apps
  • comments made on event video hosting services
  • comments made on the official event hashtag or panel hashtags

Event organisers will enforce this code throughout the event.

TechFoundHer Online Spaces

This Code of Conduct applies to the following online spaces:

  • All TechFoundHer lists hosted by TechFoundHer
  • TechFoundHer registration
  • Any other online space administered by TechFoundHer

This Code of Conduct applies to the following people in official TechFoundHer online spaces:

  • admins of the online space
  • contributors
  • all community members

The TechFoundHer Code of Conduct team will receive and evaluate incident reports from the online communities listed above. The TechFoundHer Code of Conduct team will work with online community administrators/moderators to suggest actions to take in response to a report.

Contact Information

If you have any concerns, please contact a member of the event staff immediately. They can be reached by emailing info@techfoundher.com.

In case of a conflict of interest, you can individually contact:

Event staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist any attendee to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.

Emergency services number: 112

Procedure for Handling Incidents

Licence

This Code of Conduct is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Attributions

Note: TechFoundHer Code of Conduct is a living document. Last updated: 2023-04-24

This Code of Conduct has been adapted from PyCon US’ Code of Conduct licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It was forked from the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers, which is under a Creative Commons Zero license.

Additional new language and modifications were created by Sage Sharp of Otter Tech.

Language was incorporated from the following Codes of Conduct:

Additional child and vulnerable adult protection content to Code of Conduct was adapted from Cashel Arts Festival.