Ada Lovelace, c World’s first computer programmer

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 Entrepreneur Co- 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 (Undergraduate of faculty of Engineering Co- 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 ICT….

Barriers we should 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 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…. 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!