Seeing below article was a confirmation of my recent career focus – “Information technology skills will boost women’s participation in crucial sector.” However, one fault I do find with the article below. It speaks of “greater efforts to support girls and young women to acquire skills…” Opportunity for career and job/economic opportunity applies to women of all ages and even to both sexes. Frankly, technology and work skills required are rapidly changing. No one in the modern world can and should count on a single career throughout our professional working life. There is no assurance merely on basis of seniority and years of devoted service that this is enough to hold our authority or even position in the workplace. We all now have to re-train ourselves and perhaps re-evaluate regularly whether we are in the right job, with the right skills. Much has been made of the middle-age, white collar male in management who suddenly finds himself on the unemployment line, indefinitely and with experience and skills under-appreciated. The same can be said though for career women. It is too frequently assumed that women drop out of the labor force to raise families or something like that. However, the reality is that we women must extenuate by accentuating experience with new skills, and most importantly the openness to accept the challenge. Perhaps it’s a bit cliché to call this challenge an opportunity. However, it is also too stereotypical to think that only younger women and girls have to overcome sexism or ingrained roles in economy and society. We must not allow my generation of women who were leaders in breaking the sex barriers now to be put out to pasture as if we were milk cows going dry. We have much more to give and to nourish, and what we need is an opportunity to continue learning and to continue contributing. Greater efforts to support girls and young women to acquire skills in information and communications technologies (ICTs) could help address projected shortages of manpower in those professions, the United Nations telecommunications agency said today, marking the first “Girls in ICT Day.” “With many countries now forecasting a shortage of skilled ICT professionals within the next ten years, it’s vital that we attract young women into technology if we are to sustain healthy growth rates for the industry overall,” said Hamadoun Touré, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in a statement announcing the launch of the Day. “With excellent employment opportunities and very good remuneration, a career in technology represents an excellent choice for girls in every country worldwide,” Mr. Touré added. The Girls in ICT Day will be observed on the fourth Thursday of April every year to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through the use of ICTs. It results from a resolution adopted at ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, last year. Under the resolution, ITU pledged to incorporate a gender perspective in the implementation of all its programmes and plans, following which the Global Network of Women in ICT was established. The network is designed to encourage girls and young women to choose technology careers by providing mentoring resources, high-profile role models and toolkits that help national authorities and organizations promote technology careers to women. It is supported by ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), which, through its Gender Unit, is working on a range of strategies to use ICT to improve the livelihood of women worldwide. “This new Girls in ICT Day will provide a much-needed boost to female participation in the ICT sector,” said Mr. Touré. ITU’s support for the establishment of the Day and for the launch of the Global Network of Women in ICT are among the first in a year-long series of activities around the theme of “Women and Girls in ICT” endorsed by the ITU resolution. One recent activity was the high-level panel organized to commemorate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, with the theme of “Goodbye to the IT girl? Why are young women deserting technology?” The BDT will also be spearheading a number of gender-related initiatives over the course of the year, including the recent announcement of a new partnership with Telecentre.org to train disadvantaged women in basic use of ICT equipment and applications. “Technology is now widely recognized as a critical enabler of socio-economic development,” said Brahima Sanou, the BDT Director. “Leveraging the power of ICTs to improve the livelihood of women worldwide has the power to dramatically accelerate progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 3 on gender equality by the target date of 2015,” he said. Related Film Report - "UN Women" - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/un-womenfrom-to/25110 by Susan Sacirbey Face Book at "Diplomatically Incorrect" Twitter - DiplomaticallyX