Post-event: Women in Towers launch: why it is important to improve female representation

Women in Towers, a TowerXchange initiative for improving diversity and female representation in the tower space, launched on 24 April alongside the 9th edition of TowerXchange Meetup Europe in London.

Supported by Cornerstone, Gibson Dunn and Ecotelligent, the event highlighted experiences of women from across the sector and discussed best practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the passive mobile infrastructure industry.

There were also conversations on how we create, attract and nurture a diverse talent already in our businesses, stay true to our ethics and demand diversity across the supply chains.

We opened with a panel discussion "On The Red List: changing status from Critically Endangered to Least Concern."

Panellists agreed the visibility of women had improved over the last five years, when the industry was not as mature. Now at industry conferences panels feature female speakers as normal, and some panels are even majority female. The "Driving towers portfolios further" panel discussion of TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2025 was given as a good example.

However, female representation at leadership positions in the industry is low and the higher the position, the lower the representation, such as business owners, board members, C-suite. Being role models for younger generations and those who aspire to progress to decision-making positions was a priority for the panellists and audience.

Ruth Redding and Natalie Lamb, Counsel at Gibson Dunn shared that some initiatives in the US (ironically now, they say), have helped to get women to more senior positions. Both Natalie Lamb and Ruth Redding (previously) work for US companies (California-based) where promoting women and adopting flexible work policies has been championed.

Anita Paulino, Head of Telecom at Metalogalva added that increased female visibility also signals the sector can be attractive. With the evolution of technology, every job can be done by both a woman and a man and there are no gender-specific jobs any more. The jobs that require purely strength no longer exist. Paulino and Lamb shared that representations at TowerXchange events had improved since the first TowerXchange Meetup in Africa in 2013.

Gyöngyi Mátray, CEO at Ecotelligent stressed that not all talent in the sector has a technical background. There is talent that comes from other sectors, bringing a cross-sectoral viewpoint and highlighted the importance of the outsider view in the towers space and how it helps achieve better outcomes.

Paulino has been going to TowerXchange Meetups since 2013 and can see the progress being made but there is still a way to go. The progress that companies in the sector have made has driven a mindset change and changed the perception of the industry — it is more attractive for its improved diversity.

There are examples from adjacent industries - the tech sector, where there have been company policy changes that have encouraged employees to take full maternity leave and parental leave, added Lamb.

The uptake of paternity leave, shared parental and the increased number of men using it, has helped with the hiring process and also with building an understanding and male allyship about what it's like once one comes back to work, she added.

Various legislative changes have also led to companies having policies, and also products that recognise the benefits of diversity on businesses. The access to capital (and funding) is driving policies, making it more appealing to work in the industry.

Gyöngyi Mátray mentioned the wood processing industry, including mass timber constructions which is very traditional and has now achieved progress whereby 24% of managers are female. Diversity in the supply chain needs to go all the way down the chain.

Cathrine Gulbrandsen, CCO at Telenor Towers mentioned the importance of sponsorship programmes and companies working with universities to encourage students to choose STEM subjects. In addition, the hype around AI, and its impact on the wider digital infrastructure space has helped with understanding of the industry — towers and digital infrastructure are now more relatable.

This tangible nature helps with sparking interest in technology. The industry now understands that having different perspectives leads to improved outcomes. But not only the diversity of thought, leadership is very important to inspire girls and universitity/high school talent into the sector.

Anita Paulino shared that 47% of engineers in Metalogalva now are women and they see there is an opportunity for them to grow.

Metalogalva shared they work with the Technical University of Porto and some of its students on their final degree thesis, giving them real life experience and keeping some of the talent in the company aftrerwards. The company expects to see improved results not just in the company, and the sector but also globally.

Juliana Ametorwogo, President of Women in Technology at Telecel Ghana shared that in Telecel it has been very intentional to make women feel welcome and know that their voices are heard. She and her colleagues have come up with different initiatives over the years, learning from each other and building momentum and learning as they go.

The telco and towers industry is not just about technology, there are different company functions – finance, sales, etc. Juliana and team have welcomed young people under the National Service scheme (local scheme that requires all tertiary school graduates to complete a 12-month employment before they enter the workforce.) They have put them through a rotation in the different departments of the company. At the end of the period, young people decide where they want to be and Telecel have focused on helping them want to stay with the company. The company has also enabled having a career break and being able to come back after that period.

Sonia Hernandez, CCO at Vantage Towers shared that we as a society build certain expectations from young people in schools and we need to be less biased in order to achieve longer-term results and improve female representation. She pointed that companies need to be diverse in thinking, and then they will have the diverse talent they would like to recruit, train and upskill. Sonia Hernandez shared the need to make young girls understand what it will look like for them if they are to become engineers, what will they be doing. She shared that Vantage Towers have worked on improving diversity in the past three years and have started their policy from scratch. Vantage Towers have achieved 40% women in the company, and 33% in different leadership positions. They have also worked towards having a safe place for women across the company and created a Women@Vantage initiative to connect and champion inclusion across the company.

Marina Balenović Lacković, Head of Group Controlling at EuroTeleSites added that since the company spun off completely from Telekom Austria, it operates as EuroTelesites in 6 markets. EuroTeleSites have 40% female employees and 29% of managerial positions are held by women, including at the C-level in the headquarters. Not all are in the STEM functions either, the company is on the way to improve and create policies around inclusion.

Ginette Kilroy, Chief People Officer at Cornerstone shared the company having conducted multiple training sessions to build understanding about the differences between employees, creating safe spaces and fostering inclusivity. The senior leadership team is 50% female today. Five years ago when she joined, there were two out of seven. Overall, they’ve increased female representation to 34% to from 22% five years ago.

It needs to start with company leadership driving inclusion and also offering flexibility in the way of work, agreed all panellists. Reaching out to schools and universities but also to our families and children and building an understanding of the industry will open up opportunities to attract diverse talent who will be able to visualise the opportunities in towers and the wider industry. However, being careful not to focus on quotas and percentages, but on talent and finding the right competencies, is what is needed going forward. Plus, it is the managers' and leadership teams' responsibility to be the role models the industry needs .