The International Girls in ICT Day, which is celebrated worldwide every year on the fourth Thursday of April (25 April 2024), is an opportunity to inspire young girls to study and pursue technology. This day highlights female role models in technology as a way to increase interest in information and communication technology among young girls to help balance the gender gap within the workforce. It is also to the benefit of ICT in enabling their career and aspiration. To date, over 377,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 11,400 celebrations of International Girls in ICT Day in 171 countries worldwide. The Girls in ICT Day programme aims to increase the visibility and digital competence of young women and girls (aged 12 to 24) in the STEM fields, notably ICTs.

This year’s theme for the Girls in ICT Day celebrations is “Leadership”, to underscore the critical need for strong female role models in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Although women now fill 40% of high-skill occupations globally, their participation in ICT-related fields continues to be low. Women are nearly absent from software development, engineering, technology research, academia as well as at the highest levels of policy making. They also tend to leave science and technology jobs at higher rates than men.

While there is a leadership gender gap in every industry, the largest gaps are found in the STEM fields. Women in ICT often find themselves in junior or support roles rather than in managerial roles, with little opportunity for advancement. They are also less likely to hold an executive position, become ICT entrepreneurs, or be represented among science and technology policymakers.

To thrive in STEM, girls and young women must be exposed to women in leadership positions, fostering inspiration and breaking down barriers that hinder their progress. The Girls in ICT Day 2024 theme aims to address these challenges, encouraging empowerment and leadership development for a more equitable future in STEM.

ITU Area Office for South Asia & Innovation Centre launched the Girls in ICT in India on 15 May, with support from Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Education, Broadband India Forum (BIF) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (CDOT).

As part of the Girls in ICT initiative, a number of targeted trainings are planned in partnership with several stakeholders across India aimed at increasing the involvement of Indian women in ICT, harnessing the role of ICTs to advance gender equality, and empowering women to actively participate in building an inclusive and sustainable digital future.

Together with several partners in India, various trainings will be organised across the country targeted at girls and young women between the age of 12 to 24 including the coding challenge with CDOT.

With the help of the coding challenge, children especially girls of the age group 12-18, will be trained in two coding languages mainly Python and Java by trainers from CDOT where they will learn the basics of the language. The trainings will be conducted online in the form of two virtual sessions, followed by an assessment exercise online. On the day of the coding challenge, the students who passes the assessment will be invited to CDOT and will be asked to submit their code to the trainers.

The submissions will be judged by a panel of jury members from CDOT on the following criterias:

• Speed: time taken to code
• Accuracy: number of errors
• Motivation: each student will be asked to submit their motivation to participate in written form during the day of the challenge.

The winners of the competition will be felicitated during the closing ceremony of Girls in ICT India in July end and will be awarded a prize by the event sponsor, India Mobile Congress (IMC).

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