ITU supports establishing of the International Girls in ICT Day, which will be celebrated on each fourth Thursday in April, this year for the first time.

In October 2010, at the proposal of the Republic of Serbia at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, the Amendments were adopted to the Resolution 70, which deals with gender equality issues; this enabled establishing of the Global Network of Women ICT Decision-Makers, as well as the celebration of the International Girls in ICT Day, on each fourth Thursday in April.

The objective of the Network is to encourage girls to opt for a career in ICT field. In cooperation with the women on leading positions, as the role-models for girls, the Network offers the possibility of mentorship, and the instruction which eases the promotion of ICT field to women for the national authorities and organizations. The International Telecommunications Union, i.e. Telecommunications Development Bureau within it, is supporting and promoting the work of the Network, and implementing series of strategies for improvement of life of women around the world - through the Department for Gender Equality.

The instruction with all necessary information for organization of a national Girls in ICT Day can be found at the website of the Network. ITU supports its member countries to get involved into the celebration of this day, and to organize local, regional and national events which will bring ICT closer to girls. ITU is also inviting ministers of education, communications, and other government institutions to support this initiative through partnership with private enterprises, in order to reach the girls in schools and higher education institutions.

„This initiative will motivate girls to get involved in ICT field“, the General Secretary of ITU, Hamadoun Touré, stated. „It is of vital importance for the girls to get interested in technologies, if we want to maintain the healthy growth rate in the industry as a whole, especially because many countries forecast the lack of qualified experts in ICT within the following ten years. The career in the field of technology represents a great choice for girls in all the countries around the world, primarily because of excellent employment opportunities and very good incomes.“

The initiative was raised as the proposal of the Republic of Serbia, i.e. Minister for Telecommunications and Information Society, Mrs. Jasna Matić, who inaugurated the Global Network of Women in ICT, in February 2011, in New York, within the 55th Session of the United Nations' International Commission for the Status of Women. Dr Touré, Executive Manager of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, and other women on high positions, gave their support to this initiative.

„It is a great pleasure for me that the joint initiative of the International Telecommunications Union and the Ministry for Telecommunications and Information Society of the Republic of Serbia resulted with inauguration of the Global Network of Women ICT Decision-Makers, and that it is supported by the world leaders as Michelle Bachelet“, Minister Matić said. „It is of special importance that the inauguration of the Network was one of the most important initiatives at the 55th Session of the Conference on the Status of Women.“

On 100th anniversary of the celebration of the International Women's Day, a panel discussion was organized in the ITU, with the topic “Goodbye to the IT girl? Why are young girls deserting technology?”.

You can download the report on this event, as well as the audio record from the panel discussion.