FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB)

FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB) is a non-profit continuing-education institution in Berlin that has specialised in IT and media training for women since 1984. It describes itself as an institution of vocational education whose goal is to remove inequality and discrimination in vocational training and on the labour market, and it combines education with labour-market opportunity in its programmes. Its main target group is women: career starters and returners, unemployed and non-employed women, working women with different professional and cultural backgrounds, and refugee women. It also works with organisations and companies in business, science and public administration, especially in the fields of organisational and personnel development, to help them implement equality and diversity goals. The FCZB was founded in 1984 by Renate Wielpütz and other feminists, making it the first women-specific continuing-education institution in Germany to deal with women and new technologies. It received the Ada Lovelace Memorial Prize in 1986. Until 2000 the Berliner Frauenbund 1945 e.V. was its sponsoring association; since 2000 the non-profit association FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. has been the sponsor of its projects. The centre has been led by Renate Wielpütz until 2017, by Karin Reichel from 2017 to 2023, and since 2023 by Judith Engelke, Elisa Marchese, Duscha Rosen and Janine Rosenheinrich. Its board chair is Heike Wiesner, with Petra Heidenfelder and Nenja Wolbers as board members. The FCZB finances itself mainly through public funding at regional, national and European level, and to a limited extent through income from its training courses. Around 35 staff are permanently employed, supplemented by numerous freelance trainers. Its work focuses on vocational qualification of unemployed women with different backgrounds and on conveying digital participation and self-determination in a digitally divided society, especially for people at risk of exclusion. It also qualifies multipliers as IT trainers, develops gender- and diversity-sensitive didactics in EU project partnerships, and covers data protection, data security and digital self-defence as prevention against online gender-based violence. It runs its own Moodle-based e-learning platform and was first certified under the LQW quality-management system in 2005. Its work has been recognised with awards including Total E-Quality (2001, 2010), Wege ins Netz of the Stiftung Digitale Chancen (2007, 2009), the Charta der Vielfalt for cultural diversity in the workplace (2008), and the Ada Lovelace Memorial Prize (1986).

The FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB) was founded in 1984 in West Berlin by Renate Wielpütz and other feminists. Wielpütz, born in the Rhineland, had studied political science at the Free University of Berlin and was one of the first female students at the Otto Suhr Institute to examine the situation of women scientifically in all her examinations. In the early 1980s she was in her early thirties and had long been committed to equality for women, especially in vocational adult education and in the context of labour-market policy. The founding context was a period in which computers were increasingly entering offices, administration and companies, unemployment was high, and many people feared being replaced by new technologies. Women who had left their jobs for family reasons doubted they could return to working life. This was a major theme in the new women's movement, to which Wielpütz belonged. The FCZB was thus founded as Germany's first women-specific continuing-education institution dealing with women and new technologies. In 1984 the founders conducted the first IT training course for women returning to work, part-time. This course was held twice a year under various names with updated content until 2023, funded by the State of Berlin. The young association received broad approval, including from companies, and was awarded the Ada Lovelace Memorial Prize in 1986. Until 2000 the Berliner Frauenbund 1945 e.V. was the sponsoring association of the FCZB. Since 2000 the non-profit association FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. has been the sponsor of its projects. From 2001 the FCZB created the first and so far only European database on women in leadership positions in business and politics. In July 2004 it opened Germany's first IT self-learning centre for women. Self-directed learning, lifelong learning and blended learning (a mix of e-learning and face-to-face learning) have been fundamental elements of its various courses since 2005. To implement this, the FCZB operates its own e-learning platform based on Moodle. In 2005 the FCZB was first certified under the LQW quality-management system for continuing-education organisations. Renate Wielpütz led the FCZB until 2017. Karin Reichel was managing director from 2017 to 2023, and since 2023 Judith Engelke, Elisa Marchese, Duscha Rosen and Janine Rosenheinrich have served as managing directors. The board chair is Heike Wiesner, with Petra Heidenfelder and Nenja Wolbers as board members. The organisation finances itself mainly through public funding at regional, national and European level, and to a limited extent through income from its training courses. Around 35 staff are permanently employed, with numerous freelance staff in addition. Over the decades the FCZB has carried out numerous projects. These include IT know-how for women returning to work, unemployed women and working women updating their digital skills (e.g. IT and media competence centre); media competences and work-life balance for women with health impairments and disabilities (PORTA media competences); offers for women with refugee or migration biographies (e.g. Digital Empowerment for refugee women in Berlin); train-the-trainer courses for multipliers who want to convey digital competences with low discrimination (e.g. MIKADO – Multiplikatorinnen Fortbildung Digital Empowerment); and consulting on organisational and personnel development for more equality and diversity in companies and institutions (e.g. fair balance works – equality in Berlin SMEs, Berlin Divercity, EQUAL development partnership 2005–2007, and Gender Mainstreaming in the Information Society 2003–2005). It has also run regional, national and European projects in vocational education and transition management for the penal system (2004–2023), such as the MUNIA project. Its work has been recognised with awards including Total E-Quality (2001, 2010), Wege ins Netz of the Stiftung Digitale Chancen (2007, 2009), the Charta der Vielfalt for cultural diversity in the workplace (2008), and the Ada Lovelace Memorial Prize (1986).

• 2023

  Judith Engelke, Elisa Marchese, Duscha Rosen and Janine Rosenheinrich become managing directors; the long-running IT training for women returning to work ends after being held twice yearly since 1984.

• 2017

  Renate Wielpütz steps down as managing director; Karin Reichel takes over.

• 2010

  Received Total E-Quality award.

• 2008

  Received Charta der Vielfalt award for cultural diversity in the workplace.

• 2007

  Received Wege ins Netz award from Stiftung Digitale Chancen.

• 2005

  First certification under the LQW quality-management system; blended learning becomes a fundamental element.

• 2004

  Opened Germany's first IT self-learning centre for women in July.

• 2001

  Created the first and so far only European database on women in leadership positions in business and politics; received Total E-Quality award.

• 2000

  FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. becomes the sponsoring association of the projects (previously Berliner Frauenbund 1945 e.V.).

• 1986

  Awarded the Ada Lovelace Memorial Prize.

• 1984

  Founded in West Berlin by Renate Wielpütz and other feminists; first IT training course for women returning to work held part-time.

Non-profit, feminist, gender- and diversity-sensitive vocational education institution for women in IT, funded mainly by public sources.

• IT continuing education for women

  Courses for career starters, returners, unemployed and working women to update digital skills.

• Workshops on current IT and AI topics

  Short, free workshops for quick orientation on current IT and AI topics.

• Vocational orientation and counselling

  Individual counselling and orientation for women's career development.

• Digital Empowerment for refugee women

  Project offering digital skills and empowerment for refugee women in Berlin.

• MIKADO – Multiplikatorinnen Fortbildung Digital Empowerment

  Train-the-trainer programme for multipliers conveying digital competences with low discrimination.

• fair balance works

  Joint project on equality in Berlin SMEs.

• Moodle-based e-learning platform

  Own e-learning platform supporting blended learning.

1. 1STARTSEITE - FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V.fczb.de
2. 2Über uns - FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V.fczb.de
3. 3Geschichte - FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V.fczb.de
4. 4Frauencomputerzentrum Berlin – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
5. 5Wikidata Q1451650wikidata.org