Information Technologies (ICT) are everywhere. They make our lives richer and more comfortable, connect people across the world, help save lives. Despite the importance of this sector, less and less young people, in particular women, choose to study an ICT related subject or pursue a career in the sector.
It is estimated that there will be a shortage of about 300,000 qualified staff in a few years. We need to reverse this trend and to do so we need to act quickly. We need to encourage young people, especially young women to take up an ICT related career. To achieve this, we need to act together. Your role as an educator is very important.
The European Commission initiated a shadowing exercise, whereby young girls have the opportunity to spend one day in an ICT company following (shadowing) a typical day of a female engineer or executive. This year five companies participated in this event and we would like to encourage more companies to participate in the future.
On March 8, Commissioner Viviane Reding will present a video compiling the experience of the girls. This video, together with a poster and information on the participant companies and on how to participate in a shadowing exercise and how to contact us, can be found in the web page http://ec.europa.eu/itgirls.
The site will be live as from the 8th of March 2007. For any additional information that you might require before this date, please send and email to nancy.pascall@ec.europa.eu
