'Girls in ICT' web portal aims to give women an edge in IT

By eGov Innovation Editors | Jan 25, 2012

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The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has luanched a a web portal for IT training, scholarship and ICT-related job opportunities aimed at encouraging girls and women to choose a career in technology.

ITU said women now account for less than 20 percent of ICT specialists in OECD countries. However, it wasn't always so.

"It’s a little-known fact that women were the original programmers of ENIAC, the US government’s first ever computer," ITU disclosed. "In the US in the 1980s, young women were earning 37 percent of computer science degrees. Today, that number has fallen to below 20 percent."

The projected shortfall in the number of skilled staff for upcoming jobs, on the other hand, is rising. The European Union calculates that in 10 years’ time there will be 700,000 more ICT jobs than there are professionals to fill them; globally, that shortfall is estimated to be closer to two million.

ITU is working to attract more young women and girls into the ICT sector, encouraging them to expand their horizons and urging their teachers and parents to cast aside old-fashioned negative attitudes.

Teenage girls now use computers and the Internet at rates similar to boys, ITU noted they are five times less likely to consider a technology-related career.

“Research consistently shows that girls tend to choose careers where they feel they can ‘make a difference’ such as healthcare, education, medicine. With this new portal, we’re trying to show them that there’s much more to ICTs than writing computer code,” said Dr. Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General.

“As we move towards an ICT-based Knowledge Society, the rise of apps and the explosion in telemedicine, remote learning systems and research and development make the ICT industry the most exciting choice any young person can make. We are entering unchartered waters of creativity, innovation and entirely new ways of working, interacting and learning. I hope our new portal will serve as a showcase to attract the many talented girls and young women in countries worldwide to this booming sector,” he added.

More than just coding

Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, said there are many new interesting jobs now that combine ICT with business and those so-called 'mashed up' hybrids that draw on multiple disciplines such as bioengineering, power grid informatics, digital media and social and mobile apps.

We hope our new Girls in ICT portal with its profiles and videos of women in ICTs will be a major catalyst in creating exciting and rewarding new choices for women worldwide,” Sanou said.

ITU said the portal houses some 400 programs, including over 100 scholarship programs and an equal number of contests and awards, some 60 training and internship opportunities, over 100 online networks offering career support and mentoring, as well as tech camps and Girls in ICT Day activities.

It also includes a link to a Girls in ICT Toolkit, developed by ITU partner WITNET (the Global Network of Women ICT Decision Makers). Simply put, it is a storefront for tech jobs in markets across the world. Organizations wishing to add a program simply need to log on and register.