Today is International Women’s Day 2k17. The theme for this year is #BEBOLDFORCHANGE. So far according to the Official IWD website, the stats show that 14,685 people have signed up – let’s get those numbers way up! The main idea of this global campaign is to “help forge a better working world” that is “a more inclusive, gender equal world.” While browsing on the International Women’s Day website (link found below), I saw some interesting information. According to the World Economic Forum, the gender gap will not close completely until 2186. This Is Not Soon Enough.
Each year International Women’s Day comes up with a new campaign theme to help boost engagement and light a fire in people’s passions to reach equality. Last year the “PledgeForParity campaign was committed to helping women and girls achieve their ambitions, challenge biases conscious and unconscious, urge for gender-balanced leaderships, value all genders equally and facilitate an inclusive and flexible culture.
These stats noted above do not mean that there hasn’t been progress. Women can vote, drive, work, drink, wear pants, get an education (in most places), they become Doctors, Lawers, Scientists. But there still exists some road blocks that push the gender gap to 169 Years away. On a lighter note let’s talk about all the great women and great things women are doing in the world today, and tomorrow.
If you didn’t already know this, now you will. Last week People On The Grid and Katrina Logie got to attend The Mobile World Congress 2017. The MWC was an amazing experience, and we can’t wait to go back next year. One super exciting part of the Mobile World Congress was the new GSMA programme Women4Tech. The programme is focused on successfully addressing and reducing the gender gap in the mobile industry. W4T will feature four days of in-depth analysis of the topics shaping gender diversity in the mobile industry. The programme is for men, women, and anyone that wants to help strengthen the overall mobile ecosystem through increased gender equality.
The Summit on March 2nd looked to teach attendees the best practices for women leadership in the digital age from corporate influencers. The keynote speakers included CEO, CTOS, Managing Directors, Chief Marketing Officers. The Speakers discussed and engaged with the audience four key topics:
- Women Empowering Technology looks at gender equality and career development
- Women Encouraging Technology centers on mentoring and youth education
- Women Transforming Technology focuses on women in communication and vertical sectors
- Women Innovating in Technology examines women as entrepreneurs and innovators.
One interesting Women4Tech event took place on Wednesday, March 1st. The “Women4Tech Experience: The Girls Loung Equality Tour.” The tour took attendees through the mobile ecosystem and showcased the power of diversity in the mobile and tech industries. In the tour, conversations around the best practices in the workplace centred on gender equality and diversity initiatives. This event is one side of the diversity in the workplace argument. To read more about the counter argument follow this link. http://bit.ly/2mB2zMh
International Women’s Day and the Women4Tech summit recognize the leadership and skills of women in the world and certain industries. Both look to empower women and close the gender gap. But it is still important to note that improvements have been made already and we as women have come so far. I’d like to present you some of the World’s Most Powerful Women in Tech in 2016 – a list compiled by Forbes. A COO of Facebook U.S, Sheryl Sandberg, and CEO of YouTube, U.S Susan Wojcicki hold the number one and two places. Emma Watson has also been a huge advocate for Gender equality with her “He for She” campaign.
Click here to read more about these influential women among many others. International Women’s Day looks to promote equality in all areas of the world for all women – an all-inclusive initiative.
Check out the official website for International Women’s Day here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com
And Check out the Mobile World Congress Women4Tech programme here: https://www.mobileworldcongress.com/events/women-for-tech/
By: Emma Edwards
