UN promoting young women in ICT fields worldwide

4/29/2011 8:31 AM

The United Nations telecommunications agency recently announced the first Girls in ICT Day to promote young women in the fields of information and communications technology.

Worldwide shortages in manpower are expected in these fields and the UN telecommunications agency said young women with these particular skills could help fill the open positions. The Girls in ICT Day will be observed on the fourth Thursday of every April to promote gender equality and empowerment of young women, the agency stated.

The network will reach out to young women by encouraging them to choose technology careers with mentoring services, role models and toolkits to help national organizations promote women in the fields.

“With many countries now forecasting a shortage of skilled ICT professionals within the next 10 years, it’s vital that we attract young women into technology if we are to sustain healthy growth rates for the industry overall,” said Hamadoun Toure, the secretary general of the IT union.

As the demand for IT professionals continues to grow, companies are also increasing their budgets and spending. According to Gartner, worldwide IT spending is expected to reach $3.6 trillion in 2011, an increase of 5.6 percent from 2010.

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