Bulgaria has the Most Women in Tech in the EU

OZY - When Bulgarian Tatyana Mitkova co-founded her business — ClaimCompass, which helps dissatisfied airline passengers get compensation — she found exactly what you'd expect from the startup sector: Most of the industry's other founders and investors were male. As the tech industry worldwide attempts to shake off its hoodie-wearing White man image, Bulgaria has become one of the world's bright spots.

According to Eurostat, the statistics agency of the European Union:

DESPITE BEING THE POOREST COUNTRY IN THE 28-MEMBER BLOC, BULGARIA HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) POSITIONS AT 26.5 PERCENT.

Bulgaria's number has actually slipped slightly, even as the nation works to establish itself as a rising tech and software hub in Eastern Europe, but is doing very well compared to the 17.2 percent average across the EU as a whole. American women, in comparison, hold about 26 percent of math- and computer-related jobs, which is lower than in 1960. And Bulgaria is also one of just three countries in the EU that has a higher percentage of female scientists and engineers than male: 54 percent, second only to Lithuania, compared with a regional average of 40 percent.

"If you look back in history, first during the communist times, there were no separations between men and women, and everyone had to work," says Anna Radulovski, a 26-year-old Bulgarian entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Coding Girls, an award-winning platform dedicated to closing the tech gender gap. Bulgaria is also first in the EU when it comes to the number of female students enrolled in ICT-related courses, at 33 percent, more than double the bloc's average.

"In Bulgaria there are many female role models that are encouraging...

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