Stacy Ciulik, SI UN Representative in Geneva, blogs about the importance of empowering girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
“International Girls in ICT Day is an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global initiative that takes place every year on the 4th Thursday of April. It aims to encourage young women and girls to pursue careers and studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), particularly ICT. The world needs more women in the digital sector as less than 30% of STEM professional are female. This inequality persists through the 21st century and the ITU states that the need for diversity, equity and inclusion of women in STEM is dire.
The president of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, said, “…half of all women are offline, and that girls are falling behind boys in STEM education. This exclusion is due to issues of affordability, gender-biased sociocultural norms, and a lack of education.” President Shahid is requesting more scholarships and trainings to promote women’s education in science and technology.
The 2022 theme “Access and Safety” encourages girls to overcome access and safety barriers they face when pursuing studies and careers in STEM. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU, co-moderated the Global Dialogue. She is the first woman in the 153-year history of the ITU to hold an elected office. She said, “Access and safety remain amongst the top of a long list of unacceptable barriers to women and girls full-fledged participation in the digital world. We’ll continue working to remove them, so that women and girls are equally represented in shaping our #digital future.”
An ITU Twitter Survey revealed that simply having access to the internet can support a girl’s choice to pursue interests in technical fields:
129 million girls worldwide are not online; in Nigeria alone, 10 million girls are without internet access. Affordable internet was discussed as a key factor for women to attain education, especially STEM education. Sophiyat Sadiq, Generation Connect, from Nigeria finished her studies in computer science in April 2022. She is a 2021 Kofi Anan Changemakers; one of only 3% of students in ICT who is female. She stated, “You do not know what you do not know” and emphasized the inclusion of women and girls’ digital life will allow them to pursue studies and careers in technical fields.
The four main discussions with global panelists were: “Equal Access / Connect the Unconnected”, “Accessibility”, “Gender Stereotypes and Workplace Environments in STEM/ICT”, “Online Safety”. The discussions were lively, informative and inspirational.”
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