Ada Lovelace, c. 1838World’s first computer programmer
Rising up of ICT with Girls’ involvement
Rising up of ICT with Girls’ involvement
Akila Wijethunge Undergraduate, Faculty of Engineering, UoP
Girls in ICT
The theme of this year’s WTISD, “Women and Girls in ICT”, aims to ensure that this vulnerable female half of the world’s population will march forward as equals.
"People propose, Science studies, Technology conforms"
Student•Undergraduate at Faculty of Engineering, UoP
EntrepreneurCo- Founder at Square Mobile
•Special Merit award- E- swabhimani, Sri Lanka• Finalist in “m-Billionth -2011”, India
•Shortlisted for final 5applications Mpower forum(2012) in India
Akila Wijethunge Akila Wijethunge (Undergraduate of faculty of Engineering Co- (Undergraduate of faculty of Engineering Co- Founder ,Square Mobile)Founder ,Square Mobile)
Geek•Interested in new technologies•Enthusiastic in Open source
• Different areas for the involvement
• Team work , availability, leadership talents, knowledge in technical issues
• Time management and getting updated about the new technologies
•Experienced less participation of girls in ICT events
Contribution to Contribution to ICT…. ICT….
Barriers we should Barriers we should overcome…. overcome….
Social and institutional barriers were seen as major factors behind the ICT gender divide
Traditional believe –”Boys are more capable in technical issues”
Girls still held back by stereotype thinking, but attitudes may be evolving
Both students and role models generally believe that technology is better suited to men
Socio-economic roles, levels of education, literacy, language skills and mobility
Parents / teachers (especially female) have a more negative view of these jobs with traveling
and working with people
Female students have very little interest in Internet networking careers and ICT in general
Lack of confidence , not interested in improving technical skills
Still in the dark about opportunities and benefits of ICT roles
What would make a What would make a difference….difference….
Integrating ICT into other courses, with curriculum that could be embedded in degree
courses
The creative use of ICT (e.g. multimedia, gaming, graphic design)
Demonstrating the role of ICT in serving society’s wider needs
Confidence-building measures, such as girls IT
clubs
Encourage ICT-oriented women to participate more in the field
Give them a clearer idea of IT career options
‘Women in ICT’ websites, groups and forums: community building around the gender gap
Opportunities to meet female ICT professionals and students, and get a chance to discuss frankly
about their experiences
“..the ICT sector is growing, but this growth is focused mainly on domestic consumption rather than export, and is mainly in communications and IT services, rather than in software development and, to an even lesser extent, hardware supply.”
Time to Rise Up….Time to Rise Up….
It is not about the equal position but the right position in ICT
At under-graduate level, the discrepancy between the number of men and women to
study science and technology and other related subjects should be less
What do make a difference is enthusiasm and self-
confidence..
Thank You!Thank You!