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Photo credit: ITU/P. Letcher |
From left to right: Suvi Lindén, Finland’s Minister of Communications;
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Chief of ITU’s Strategic and Membership Department; and
Jasna Matić, Serbia’s Minister for Telecommunications and Information Society |
International Women’s Day celebrated
each year on 8 March marks
the economic, political and social
achievements of women. The theme
for 2011 is “Equal access to education,
training and science and technology:
Pathway to decent work for
women”. The very first International
Women’s Day was held in 1911.
ITU organized a high-level debate
on 10 March 2011 to celebrate
the centenary. Opening the discussion,
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Chief
of ITU’s Strategic and Membership
Department, said: “This is particularly
important for me personally as
a woman who works for ITU, the
United Nations specialized agency
for information and communication
technologies (ICT), and as an
individual who is passionate about
seeing women achieve their full
potential.”
|
“Forget China, India
and the Internet:
economic growth is
driven by women.”
The Economist |
The following quote from The
Economist — “Forget China, India
and the Internet: economic growth
is driven by women” — deserves
to be posted up above the desk of
every working woman, commented
Ms Bogdan-Martin. She stressed
the importance of getting girls into
school, and ensuring they stay there.
As the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) reports: “Educating a girl
dramatically reduces the chance
that her child will die before age
five… And educated girls are more
productive at home, better paid in
the workplace, and more able to
participate in social, economic and
political decision-making.”
“What girl wouldn’t
want to go into a
field where there
is a clear need for
the skills, where the
salaries are among
the best in the jobs
market, and where
she can make a
real difference in
advancing social
and economic
development?” |
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ICT professionals are well paid
but a worldwide shortage seems to
be imminent. The European Union
estimates that in 10 years time there
will be a lack of some 300 000 people
to fill ICT jobs in the region; globally,
the projected shortfall is closer
to 1.2 million. Highlighting these
statistics Ms Bogdan-Martin added:
“Let me ask this: What girl wouldn’t
want to go into a field where there
is a clear need for the skills, where
the salaries are among the best in
the jobs market, and where she can
make a real difference in advancing
social and economic development?”
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Doreen Bogdan-Martin has been Chief of
ITU’s Strategic Planning and Membership
Department since the beginning of 2008.
She was previously the Head of the ITU/
BDT’s Regulatory and Market Environment
Division. Before joining ITU, she was a
Telecommunications Policy Specialist in the
US National Telecommunication and Information
Administration (NTIA). She holds a
Masters degree in Communications Policy. |
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Jasna Matić is Serbia’s Minister for Telecommunications
and Information Society. She
holds an engineering degree and worked as
a civil engineer before becoming a government
adviser and then consultant to the
World Bank in Washington. She then held
several high-ranking government posts
before becoming Minister for Telecommunications
and Information Society in 2008 |
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Victor Agnellini is Global Senior Vice-President, Transformation, at Alcatel-Lucent, where he manages the strategies
and programmes that are keeping his
company at the forefront of ICT evolution
worldwide. |
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Suvi Lindén is Finland’s Minister of Communications.
She has a degree in Computer
Science as well as a Master of Science
degree. She made headlines in 2010 when
Finland became the first country in the
world to make broadband access a legal
right for every citizen. |
 |
Anastasia Ailamaki is Director of the Data-
Intensive Applications and Systems Laboratory,
School of Computer and Communication
Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Associate
Professor, Carnegie Mellon University. |
 |
Aurora Velez is Chief Producer of
Euronews’s flagship educational series
Learning World, a weekly programme that
takes viewers around the world to look at
challenges, trends and success stories in
global education. |
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Inal Uygur is Head of Processes and Projects
at the International School of Geneva,
where he teaches the theory of knowledge.
He holds a BSc. in Computer Science and
Engineering from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), and spent over
20 years as an ICT professional before
taking up his present role. |
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Alethea Lodge-Clarke is Microsoft’s Programme
Manager for Public-Private Partnerships
and DigiGirlz, with a special focus
on programmes that can empower girls
and women. She was born and raised in
Jamaica, and is now based in the United
States. |
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Gitanjali Sah is a Policy Analyst at ITU,
where she specializes in implementation of
ICT4D and e-governance projects. She has
contributed to National and State Policy
processes in India, including the draft policy
on ICT in education. |
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Speranza Ndege is Director of the Institute
of Open, Distance and e-Learning at Kenya’s
Kenyatta University and was formerly Head
of the African Virtual University Learning
Centre. She is an ICT/e-learning specialist
with a Master of Science in computer-based
information systems. |
Ms Bogdan-Martin then led distinguished
panellists from government,
the private sector, academia
and the media in an interactive debate
entitled “Goodbye to the IT
girl? Why are young women deserting
technology?” In the following
highlights, Ms Bogdan-Martin asks
the questions.
Sharing experiences on
women and technology
Minister Matić, as a
woman who chose to study
engineering, you must
have some experience of
attitudes to women joining a
predominantly male domain.
How important is support and
encouragement for women
joining traditionally male fields?
Jasna Matić: In both the construction
engineering degree and
MBA courses, I was among the few
women chosen to be there. But
my experience actually started earlier
than that, in high school, when
I chose maths as my major. When
I was 15 years old I was in a class
with two other girls and 24 boys.
We three girls were the top students
in the class. We dared to make
maths our career path, but the girls
who were not quite as good at
maths as we were did not dare even
to try the subject because they did
not have any encouragement. We
three had encouragement at home,
with parents who said we could be
whatever we wanted to be. Boys
obviously were encouraged and
supported by their families, and
they pursued their dreams regardless
of their talent. When I was at
university studying construction
engineering, one of our teachers
said to the class: “Oh but the girls
are only here to get married, right?”
So that kind of attitude starts early
on and continues all the way. I still
experience it today. I know that
I have to spend the first 10 minutes
of every meeting establishing my competence and expertise.
Only then can I move on to the actual topic of
the meeting.
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“It is important for
all of us who have
made careers in ICT
to encourage young
girls to pursue their
dreams, and to
think about careers
in our sector.” |
Role models are really important. When UN Women
was launched in New York in February 2011, one of the
ladies present, an astronaut, said that you need reality
to create fantasy. Young girls need to see something
in order to dream about it. If they have never seen a
woman astronaut, they will never dream about becoming
an astronaut. So it is important for all of us who
have made careers in ICT to encourage young girls to
pursue their dreams, to pursue education and to think
about careers in our sector.
The ICT sector has really changed the world in the
past couple of decades. It has changed the way we
work, the way we learn, the way we get our health
care, the way we get justice, and of course the way
we entertain and communicate. There are endless opportunities
for young women to pursue careers in ICT,
and these are good careers. We women need to play
our part to make it an easier task for them than it was
for us.
“The Alcatel-Lucent
Foundation has
put together a
global programme
which will reach
13 500 young
people around the
world, and 70 per
cent of them will
be women.” |
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Mr Agnellini, your company is one of the
biggest R&D players in the world. Are you
worried about a skills shortage because girls
are turning their backs on ICT studies?
Victor Agnellini: As a global company, with a presence
in 130 countries, one of the challenges that we are
facing in trying to increase gender equality in all the different
branches within the company is that the dynamics
are not the same in every country. We realize that we
have to try to push harder to increase the percentage
of female participation in entry-level jobs and then to
nurture women in ICT careers. We have discussed this
a lot within the company, and we have identified potential
bottlenecks, not just at college level but also at
earlier stages.
In order to help increase the opportunities for girls to
engage in this domain, the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation,
which I have the honour to chair, has put together a
global programme. The Foundation particularly targets
teenage girls; our programme will reach 13 500 young
people throughout the world, and 70 per cent of them
will be women. Through this programme, we would
really like to help these young people
get to the point where they can
engage more actively with the educational
system and potentially use
ICT as a way to become much more
involved in society as a whole.
Minister Lindén, in the OECD’s
Programme for International
Student Assessment 2010,
Finland ranked in 2nd position
in mathematics and 1st position
in science. Finnish girls were
better than boys in science,
and in maths girls and boys did
equally well. But fewer than
25 per cent of students studying
technology at university
level are women. Why?
“One of the most
important things is
to make girls realize
that by combining
ICT with the caring
professions — the
careers that usually
attract women —
they will be able to
make a difference.” |
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Suvi Lindén: In Finland we are
facing the same challenges as everywhere
else in attracting girls to ICT
careers. Studies show that there are
not enough role models. Girls think
of technology as being too nerdy
and as not being trendy. Finland is
a very ICT-driven country because of
Nokia. But even though girls study
mathematics and sciences in high
school and are very good at those
subjects, they still want to be doctors
or nurses or teachers. They
don’t want to go into engineering.
We are working hard in Finland to
make engineering more appealing
to women. In fact, we have too
many engineers in Finland, and too
many engineering students, so finding
an ICT job is not easy. But the
real problem is one of perception.
Through the digital revolution in
Finland we are already talking about
the ubiquitous information society,
where devices communicate, not
just people. You have technology
everywhere. I think that this opens
up big possibilities for women.
When women see that ICT permeates
every aspect of life — in elderly
care, in nursing, in teaching — it
will make the field much more interesting.
For example, women will
be able to combine elderly care and
engineering, because a lot of devices
need to be invented to help in
caring for the elderly.
I think that women have a great
capacity to create user-friendly interfaces,
to make things that are
simple for people to use. I’ve always
said that, in Finland, because we
have so many engineers and all the
devices are made by them and for
them, there is a lack of user-friendly
applications and user-friendly devices.
I think that women can make
a difference, so I am quite optimistic
that — hopefully in the near future
— there will be more and more
women in engineering. One of the
most important things is to make
girls realize that by combining ICT
with the caring professions — the
careers that usually attract women
— they will be able to make a difference.
Ms Ailamaki, why did you
choose computer science
studies, and what was it like
being one of just nine girls in
a class of more than 150?
“Computer
science was far
removed from my
everyday life, unlike
nowadays when
ICT products are in
everybody’s home
and everybody’s
pocket.” |
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Anastasia Ailamaki: I wanted
to become a chemical engineer
because I liked chemistry. I had
never seen a computer before the
age of 17, when I went to university.
When I was completing the
forms and ranking my choices of
university, someone said to me “Do
you know that there is a new computer
engineering school in Greece?
But don’t bother to apply because
it’s too selective”. Now my problem
is that when someone tells me not
to do something (even my parents)
that is exactly what I choose to do.
So I put computer engineering as
my first choice, and I got into the
school.
Computer science was far removed
from my everyday life, unlike
nowadays when ICT products are in
everybody’s home and everybody’s
pocket. Going into computer science
was a revelation. I really fell
in love with computer engineering.
Yes, there were 9 women and
149 boys in my class, but it was just
a fact of life. We didn’t think about
it a lot — we just concentrated on
what we were doing.
Now if we fast forward to today,
we see that the percentage of
women enrolling in EPflhas started
dropping, after a peak around
2003/2004. Young people are reluctant
to go into computer science for
two reasons. One is that girls have
an image of the computer scientist
as an unwashed boy in front of a
computer, fascinated by programming
and oblivious to the empty
pizza boxes around him. The other
is that when they see the product
— the iPhone, the iPad, the computer
itself — they don’t see the
science behind it. They need to see
the engineering element to understand
that they could do this. But
in today’s devices and services, this
element is hidden.
Young people want to make a
difference, but they need to be educated
to understand why and how
the science behind computers can
become an enabler to solve very
important problems in the world
in such areas as medicine, life sciences
and astronomy. For example,
computer science and technology
are enabling the life sciences
to advance. Education is the key; if
education changes with the times,
more girls will go into computer science.
In Norway, the Renate Centre
in Trondheim uses a variety of
creative approaches in recruiting
girls to study sciences and
technology, including a catwalk
show of women wearing scientists’
work wear and graduate
students talking to high school
girls, who are yet to make their
career choices — according to
Euronews’s flagship education
series Learning World.
Ms Velez, do you think
European governments need to
follow in Norway’s footsteps
and be more proactive and
innovative when it comes to
girls’ education? In researching
your stories, have you ever
seen examples of governments
and the private sector
teaming up in this way?
“Learning World
is a global weekly
show, with
300 million viewers
in 151 countries.
We try to showcase
good examples
in the world of
education.” |
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Aurora Velez: While I cannot
speak for governments, I would like
to stress that education is a duty
of government. In Learning World,
we have singled out the northern
European countries in terms of their
approach, particularly the contact
with students. Finland, Sweden
and Denmark stand out as models
for education. And you have just
watched a video on Norway.
The European Union does not
have a Union-wide approach to
education. There are regional programmes
such as Leonardo and
Erasmus, but education is primarily a
national government responsibility.
Learning World is a global weekly
show, with 300 million viewers
in 151 countries. We try to showcase
good examples in the world of
education. Obviously we mention
private initiatives as well as public
education. We recently made a film
in Kenya, where a private school
partnered with local authorities to
give a chance to girls — boys too
but mostly girls — who need a bit
of help to give them the opportunity
to develop their knowledge and
to be in a position to achieve their
own aims.
My message is that let’s look to
northern Europe where good examples
are being set. At the same
time, let’s look outside Europe to
the South to see how they are dealing
with the same problems.
Mr Uygur, how much influence
do you think teachers have
over students’ career choices?
And do you think teachers are
deliberately putting girls off
science and technology, or is
it more insidious than that?
“I am aware, as a
teacher, that I have
a huge influence
on my students. As
a child, you don’t
have much to build
your dreams on
except the dreams
of your parents,
your teachers and
your peers…” |
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Inal Uygur: If we put ourselves in
the position of the student, which
we all were at some point, we see
that parents and teachers have
enormous influence. When we were
children, we assumed that parents
provided love and teachers held the
authority on knowledge.
I am aware, as a teacher, that
I have a huge influence on my students.
As a child, you don’t have
much to build your dreams on except
the dreams of your parents,
your teachers and your peers, but
their own thinking colours their
dreams.
So when a young person is asked
“what are you going to do in life?”
That is a very difficult question to
answer. Even parents and teachers
don’t know what the world is going
to look like in five years time. Do
teachers have influence on choices?
Yes. Do they do it on purpose? It
might be more subtle than that.
I have colleagues who discourage
female students from studying
maths and sciences. Most of them
do it sincerely believing that they
are trying to be helpful, because
they think girls aren’t good at these
subjects. Now why do they think
that? It is a generational thing.
When these teachers were growing
up, that is what was programmed
into them. And they are passing it
on. I think that this explains part of
the problem.
Today, the world is moving so
fast that there is a change from generation
to generation. This creates
a problem upstream in schools because
teachers may transmit something
about the world they grew up
in, which isn’t the world that their
students are growing up in. And
although teachers think they are
helping, they may unconsciously be
part of the problem.
Ms Lodge-Clarke, what is
Microsoft’s DigiGirlz programme
and how does it work?
“DigiGirlz is a
one-day event
held at multiple
Microsoft locations
worldwide and the
aim is to dispel the
myths about maths
and science, and
get girls’ confidence
levels up.” |
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Alethea Lodge-Clarke: DigiGirlz
started about 10 years ago. It was
the brainchild of a few female developers
at the company, who saw
that there was a shortage of girls
interested in computer sciences
and ICT overall. If you look at statistics
for advanced placement exams
in the United States, in 2008
17 per cent of test takers at senior
high school for maths and computer
science were girls. In 1985,
37 per cent of all computer science
graduates were women. In 2008,
that number was 18 per cent. This
downhill trend is a big concern because
computers and information
technology are the foundation of
everything we do today. We have
heard a lot about the “leaky pipeline”
— girls studying science at
school but moving into other areas
at university. We have also heard
about all kinds of pipelines. But the
truth of it all is that we needed to
do something to get more girls into
the pipeline. DigiGirlz is a one-day
event held at multiple Microsoft locations
worldwide and there is also
a DigiGirlz Boot Camp, a two-day
event. The aim is to dispel the myths
about maths and science, and get
girls’ confidence levels up. We share
with them what it is like to work
in the high-tech industry, and they
get the chance to meet one on one
with employees at Microsoft. They
see demonstrations of products and
how things work. They get behind
the scenes and see how maths and
science learned in the classroom apply
to real life.
Ms Sah, what makes girls in
South Asia and India study
science and engineering?
“In traditional
societies like ours,
we are expected
to be super mums,
super cooks, super
wives and super
employees. It is not
easy to juggle it all.” |
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Gitanjali Sah: Women in general
are under-represented in science
and technology, although South
Asia and India have done better
comparatively. In traditional societies
like ours, we are expected to
be super mums, super cooks, super
wives and super employees. It is not
easy to juggle it all.
Traditionally, being a doctor or
an engineer has been a coveted
profession in India. Our parents
have often motivated us — even
at times pressurized us — to take
technology courses. This might be
one reason why a lot of girls and
boys study technology in India. It
not only lands you with a prestigious
and lucrative job, but it also
brings you social standing. Studying
technology and engineering can
even increase a woman’s prospects
of a good marriage. You can often
read in the matchmaking sections
of newspapers and websites that a
man is “seeking an engineer bride”.
Being an engineer could get you a
good husband. So in India and in
South Asia, the willingness of women
to become engineers could be
more of a cultural and social thing
than to do with other aspects.
Dr Ndege, you met with
resistance from male colleagues
when you opted to further
your studies in the ICT field.
What were their objections to a
woman moving into this field?
“I would go to
meetings with
the men and they
would tell me:
You are not ICTcompliant,
you are
not supposed to
come to meetings
where technology
is discussed.” |
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Sperenza Ndege: In Africa, we
have been left behind for far too
long. We want to catch up with
the rest of the world, and it is high
time for us to embrace technology,
despite our problems of ICT
infrastructure. The African Virtual
University (AVU) was established as
a project of the World Bank, and officially launched in 1997. AVU was
originally designed as a technologybased
distance education network
to bridge the digital divide in Africa,
especially by building capabilities in
science and engineering. Kenyatta
University was a participating
institution in this project from its
inception.
It was around 1999 when I did
my first computer-literacy courses.
Having a background in social sciences
and literature, I decided to try
computer literacy. Then I decided to
venture into computer technology,
and I did an IT course in Belgium for
four months.
When I went back to my country,
I was asked to help create a
website for the university. At that
time, websites were something
completely new in the country and
not many people knew about website
technology. People asked why
someone like me from the social
sciences, with a Masters in literature
and a PhD in linguistics, was helping
to do a website for the university. It
was a big deal.
Then I realized that I was not
welcome in the university ICT department.
There were no women in
that department. One of the men
told me that I was not welcome
there because I was a woman and
because I had only done a certifi-
cate course, rather than the B.Sc.
degree course offered by AVU. The
subtext was that one of the men in
the ICT department should have got
the job of helping to create the university
website.
I would go to meetings with the
men and they would tell me “You
are not ICT-compliant, you are not
supposed to come to meetings
where technology is discussed”.
I was very nervous in those meetings.
So one day I decided enough
is enough! I enrolled for a Masters
course in computer-based learning
systems with a university in the
United Kingdom. I put in some of
my savings and my husband added
some of his to pay my fees. It cost
about USD 15 000 for me to do the
seven-month M.Sc. course in information
systems. That qualification
made me ICT-compliant, and better
accepted by my male colleagues.
I am particularly interested in the
benefits that e-teaching can offer a
country like mine. I am very happy
that the Government of Kenya has
now introduced e-learning in secondary
schools, and included computer
studies in the curriculum. It is
not yet compulsory, but I think that
will be the next step.
Every first-year university student
must do computer literacy
studies. That is where we are now,
and I am so happy to hear students
saying “I am going to be an expert
in ICT”. The girls now coming up
through the Kenyan educational
system are ready to embrace technological
subjects.
* Reprinted with permission from UN Women (www.unwomen.org).
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