The g4g Team with Thea and Caitlin, the winners of the Cisco App Challenge and our very own 3 times greenlight girls!
The day has come! Last Thursday, 25th April, the European Parliament hosted one of the events of the International Girls in ICT Day, an initiative by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Member States that aims to inspire girls and women into pursuing careers in the area of ICT. As the core of g4g’s mission is to encourage girls into science, engineering and also technology, we could not miss it. It was the perfect opportunity to connect with institutions’ leaders, role models and, of course, to share the result of our “Anything is Possible” campaign.
g4g Team with our new friend Dr. Touré, United Nations ITU Secretary Genera
The event started with a networking lunch, where the result of Cisco’s challenge for girls to create an app was announced. After that, the audience was invited to a Parliamentary hearing on Women in ICT, in which we had speakers such as Commissioner Neelie Kroes (who stated that “ICT are a girl’s best friend”, instead of diamonds); Hamadoun Touré, the Secretary-General of ITU; Monique Morrow (to whom “geek is chic” and we agree), CTO Asia Pacific at CISCO; Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook; among other prominent women in the ICT field. The event at the Parliament ended with a reception, where we shared the result of our “Anything is Possible” campaign with the attendees: a video with voices from all over the world spreading the message that “Anything is Possible”. For more details about the Girls in ICT Day in Brussels, click here to see the agenda.
After the Parliamentary hearing was over, we were left with the lesson that it’s about time for us to overcome gender stereotypes, cultural barriers and whatever obstacles that stop girls from pursuing their dream of an ICT career. This is key not only to their future, but also to the economy and to change the world that we live in for one in which opportunities are equal. And we at g4g are very glad for doing our best to help in this change.
