MEDIA REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
Media are invited to participate in the
2018 International Girls in ICT DayEurope Regional Event taking place at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria on Saturday, 28 April. The event is co-hosted by ITU, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the European Commission.
International Girls in ICT Day was established by ITU to address the digital gender divide in the world's increasingly digital landscape. It is celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of April, and officially on 26 April this year. Since its inception, over 300,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 9,000 International Girls in ICT Day events in 166 countries worldwide.
According to a recent report by the European Commission, there is a growing gap between men and women's participation in the digital sector in education, career and entrepreneurship. The report says there are 4x more men than women in Europe with ICT-related studies while 3.1x more men than women work in the digital sector. The report notes that, although female-owned startups are more likely to be successful, there is a decrease in women's participation, leadership and investment in the entrepreneurial digital sector. The European Commission also predicts a skills gap of over 500,000 ICT jobs in Europe by 2020.
A joint press conference by ITU and the European Commission will take place from 16:20 to 16:45 outside the main conference hall to address the digital gender divide in Europe.
Registration is being carried out exclusively online for the event in Sofia. The deadline for registration is
27 April 2018. Journalists as well as all participants are encouraged to register now for the event in order to obtain a badge to access the venue.
What:Girls in ICT Day 2018 – Empowering Girls in the Digital Era across Europe
Under the theme,
"Empowering Girls in the Digital Era", the event will focus on the European region and bring together over 400 participants. It will include:
- High-level panel discussion on achieving gender equality, empowering women and girls, and the actions to take at international, regional and country levels to promote equal opportunities for young women and girls to take up ICT careers so that they can participate fully in the digital economy.
- Female students will take part in exciting hands-on ICT workshops on robotics, programming, animation and application development; and meet with inspiring women role models.
When: 28 April 2018, 14:00–17:30 /
Joint ITU-EU Press Conference: 16:20-16:45
Where: University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria. The event will also be webcast on the
event website.
Who:
- ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao
- Vice-President of the Republic of Bulgaria Iliana Iotova
- European Commission Commissioner of Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel
- 70+ young women and girls from area schools
- Prominent leaders from the private sector and academia
Useful participant info:
