Worldwide call to draw more women into computing

Really interesting: A UN-hosted event to address the lack of women in computing worldwide. “ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure says information and communications technology (ICT) jobs are expected to greatly outstrip the supply of professionals to fill them within the next 10 years, which represents ‘an extraordinary opportunity for girls and young women.'”

New York, 26 April 2012 – Global leaders from the US, Europe, Africa and Asia joined together today to debate and define a roadmap that will help break down barriers and overturn outmoded attitudes in a bid to get more girls into technology-related studies and careers.

A high-level dialogue held at New York’s Institute of International Education and hosted by the International Telecommunication Union, the UN-specialized agency for information and communication technology, identified misguided school-age career counselling, the popular media’s ‘geek’ image of the technology field, a dearth of inspirational female role models, and a lack of supportive frameworks in the home and workplace as factors that, together, tend to dissuade talented girls from pursuing a tech career.

via Newsroom • Press Release.