Communications of the ACM
Itu Worries Over Declining Female Presence in Ict
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day by addressing the declining presence of women in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry.
ITU brought together a high-level panel of experts from government, the ICT industry, the education sector, and the media. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne's Anastasia Ailamaki says girls are five times less likely to consider technology-related careers than boys. He notes that young women earned 37 percent of computer science degrees in the United States during the 1980s, but today that number has fallen to about 20 percent. In 10 years, Europe will face a shortfall of 300,000 ICT workers, and the global shortfall will be 1.2 million.
Participants in the panel agree that young girls have a poor perception of the industry and lack inspiring role models. Finnish communications minister Suvi Linden says the culture of negativity around science and math affects girls as early as the primary level. International School of Geneva education specialist Inal Uygur says teachers unwittingly or deliberately discourage girls from technology careers.
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