#EmbraceEquity is the theme for International Women’s Day 2023. The call to action is “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.”
Commission for the Status of Women
This year I am a UN Women UK Delegate for the Commission for the Status of Women #CSW. The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is an annual meeting of Member States at the United Nations, for the sole purpose of working on gender equality and women’s rights – https://www.unwomenuk.org/csw
The theme for this year’s #CSW is – “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls”. As a woman who has always worked in tech, as a former teacher and as an author, I feel very aligned with this theme.
Role Models
With a focus on “education in the digital age” in this post I will highlight role models that can be used within the classroom to inform and educate. Let me start with a question for you – right now are you able to name 5 women working in Tech? Then are you able to name 5 women from under-represented groups working in tech? I have use the present tense here, as I am encouraging you to think of living role models. This is something that should also translate to the classroom/learning environments. Have a look around – what female representation is there of living female tech role models for our learners?
As a TechWomen100 award winner 2022, I would like to highlight that there are 99 other women that could be named here. So if you are looking for inspiration, please have a look at the WeAreTech women website.
Women Authors
I would also like to celebrate some of the #women authors who are writing about tech and doing great things for women in tech and business. I feel this will inspire and educate a generation of young people.
Who else would you add to this list?
These authors provide a mix of books for children, for those seeking to start teaching computing, for those in industry and more!
Then, there are the resource writers, here are a couple, who else would you add to this list?
- Elizabeth Sparrow – produces resources under the name of Sparrow Lessons
- Rachel Arthur (along with male ally – Joe Arday) – have written this blog and created resources to use within the classroom to highlight some of the unsung heroines of tech
Call to Action
Change is needed and it is needed yesterday! My call to action to you. What are you doing at an individual level to help –achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, here are some of the things that I am doing:
- Raising awareness such as through writing this blog post
- Always speaking about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at conferences and workshops
- Created a children’s book series – The Digital Adventures of Ava and Chip – that has a central female character from an under-represented group with tech knowledge, this is a reflect of my own life.
- Sharing resources through my social media that support girls in to STEM careers and also that support colleagues who may not fully know where to find the support they need.
Together we can achieve!
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity #CSW67 #IWD23 #WomenInBusiness
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