Institute of Information Technology of ANAS. Republican Scientific-Practical Conference on "International Women in ICT Day"

4/24/2019

CIS, Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan

The role of women in ICT and their involvement in this sphere were underlined in Republican scientific-practical conference on ‘International Women in ICT Day’  at the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS, on 25 April 2019.

Women scientists, pedagogues and professionals working in the field of ICT, scientific and educational institutions of Azerbaijan participated in the conference. The event aimed to discuss the role of women in the ICT sector in the country, the role and prospects of ICT in addressing gender issues, ICT and gender culture, personal information security in women's integration into virtual environments and the role of communications in the development of women's social status in the cultural environment of Azerbaijan.

Opening the event, Academician Akif Alizadeh, president of ANAS, said that one of the important goals of the information society is to increase the role of women in information and communication technologies (ICT).

“ICT, which is a technological platform of the information society, has played an important role in ensuring women's rights and freedoms, as well as, is a means to effectively eliminate all forms of social inequalities in society”, the President of ANAS noted.  The number of women in academic technical professions, including the ICT sector, has increased, and this tendency has also been observed in Azerbaijan recently. In 2018, the percentage of women in technical science fields was 53%, whereas this figure for men accounted 47%.

The Chairman of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Hijran Huseynova gave a report that was focused on the role of ICT in ensuring  gender equality and enhancing  rights and opportunities for them.

She noted that the concept of "women in ICT" seemed to be abstract for some people. ‘When people heard the words of a female programmer, startuper and computer engineering, it was surprising for them. But these stereotypes have already been clashed. Our main goal is to attract more women to this sector and support them", she stressed.

Speaking about the role and prospects of ICT in the solution of gender problems, Corresponding Member of ANAS Masuma Mammadova spoke about the factors determining women's involvement in ICT.  In the world, 20-30% of 29 million qualified specialists in the ICT sector are women. "17.2% of specialists in the ICT sector  European Union are women," she emphasized.

She presented the percentage of female IT professionals in leading ICT companies, female students in universities studying STEM in Azerbaijan and reported on the ranking of IT-graduates by gender. Also, she informed about the reasons for the low share of women in the ICT sector and noted that, currently, women have a great opportunity to get involved in the dynamic ICT sector.

Academician-Secretary of ANAS, Director of the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS, academician Rasim Alguliyev spoke on ‘Women and Personal Data Protection Problems’. His presentation mainly covered the normative-legal basis of personal data protection and international challenges, the protection of personal information about women's personal and family life.

He put forward his proposals on academic personal data protection and noted that it is essential to carry out multidisciplinary research on its social-psychological, legal, technological, and so on. aspects. Also, he emphasized the necessity of highly-qualified personnel training in the field of personal data protection. He called on women to become more initiator and active in realization of  these proposals.

The event was followed by the presentations of Chairman of the Women Council of ANAS, Professor Rena Mirzazadeh on ‘Gender culture in ANAS ,ICT’ and Laboratory Director of the Institute of Management Systems of ANAS, Gulchin Abdullayeva on ‘Women in ICT: overall picture in the international sphere and in the country’ and Senior researcher of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, Hikmat Guliyev on The role of communications in the development of social status of women in the cultural environment of Azerbaijan" .

Note that the conference was held jointly by the Presidium of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS.