Are We Walking the Talk of Female Representation in ICT4D?

Online Worldwide - Oct 21 - RSVP Now

The digital development field has consistently focused on improving female access to technology and related services across low- and middle-income countries. With over 250 million more women owning a mobile phone as compared to 2014, there has been considerable progress.

Research is emerging that the COVID-19 crisis could set women back half a decade. Through the pandemic, women have experienced an increase in barriers to accessing reproductive care, more exposure to domestic violence, and heightened domestic workloads. In short, the pandemic has intensified challenges that women already faced.

Yet, the importance of female representation has become even clearer. A recent study indicated that female-led countries fared better against coronavirus. Within the workplace, increased female representation results in increased profit, and senior-level women are more likely to embrace employee-friendly policies and programs as well as champion racial and gender diversity.

As we advocate for increased female representation and engagement amongst end-beneficiaries, we should be asking ourselves:

Do women have leadership roles in your organization?
Are there majority men, women, or evenly mixed genders as managers, software developers, and the like?
What impact do you think this has on the way you work, the programs and tools you design, and the outcomes your work yields?

Please RSVP now for our next virtual Tech Salon, where we will explore how to increase gender representation and inclusion within our own organizations with questions like:

How can we create the right conditions to foster female leadership?
What supports are needed for women to participate better in the workplace?
How do we increase female participation in software development?
When can we better engage gender allies in a positive and proactive way?
Where can we get more and better gender disaggregated data to drive programmatic development and change?
When do we turn commitment into practice and make gender diversity a business priority?

Please RSVP now for our next virtual Tech Salon to explore these questions with the following thought leaders:

Diana Popa, CEO and Founder, Extensio
Christopher Burns, Director, Center for Digital Development, U.S. Global Development Lab, USAID
Biruk Tensou, Technical Lead for Data Use, JSI / Ethiopis Tadesse, Knowledge Management, Communications and Gender Advisor, JSI
Maguette Thioro Ndong, Technical Advisor, Digital Square, PATH

Even online, space is limited to foster intimate conversations, so please RSVP now and be sure to note the Relevance section in your application to attend! Once we reach our discussion capacity there will be a waiting list!

Women in ICT4D
Technology Salon DC
8:45 – 10:30am Eastern Time
October 21st, 2020
Online around the world
RSVP is required for attendance

About the Technology Salon

The Technology Salon™ is an intimate, informal, and in-person, discussion between information and communication technology experts and international development professionals, with a focus on both:

Technology's impact on donor-sponsored technical assistance delivery, and
Private enterprise driven economic development, facilitated by technology.

Our meetings are lively conversations, not boring presentations. Attendance is capped at 35 people - and frank participation with ideas, opinions, and predictions is actively encouraged.

It's also a great opportunity to meet others motivated to employ technology to solve vexing development problems. Join us today!