New Technology 2011 Gadgets, Best Gadgets, Desktop Gadgets

As we witness the showdown of another World Telecom Day, being celebrated worldwide on today’s date, what we have on plate is an industry that was in the news for high-profile reasons throughout 2011. Whether it is Pakistan taking second position to Turkey for holding the maximum number of growth-oriented companies in the Arab AllWorld Network, or Wateen coming back to life with various senior-level appointments, or Zong, Ufone and Mobilink sorting out their HR structures in non-competitive ways of doing business, the World Telecom Day this year is sure to be ring-mastered by faces different from the last few years.

Celebrating May 17th when the first International Telegraph Convention was signed off, World Telecom Day 2012 does reinforce the use of ICT to bridge the digital divide between societies and economies. This year however, the focus is on shattering a psychologically raised and culturally preserved glass ceiling when it comes to the concentration of women in technology industry.  In a world where IT and Finance Professions are treated as male-like as Civil Engineering and Wrestling, it is quiet obvious why the glass ceiling exists. Hence, a World Telecom Day dedicated to “Women and Girls in ICT” becomes the more needful if communities are to transform in the true spirit gearing in ICT. Women are indeed the foundation of healthy families, communities and societies.

Addressing the issue rather comprehensively, World Telecom Day 2012, being held today aims to bring focus to how ICT tools  can be used to eliminate gender inequalities faced by women from education to employment to status in society.  In a celebration of the 147th Year of ITU, a ‘Girls In ICT Portal’ has been put together by the ITU to highlight and profile women high-achievers in ICT, and provide information on scholarships/contests/trainings/internships being offered globally to empower women through ICT.

Why is that an even bigger need today? As Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, ITU Secretary-General comments,”Women and girls are denied basic access to healthcare and education and to equal opportunities at work. They face segregation in economic, political and social decision-making and often suffer violence and discrimination. This situation is unacceptable and we must address it with all the means available to us”.

And that isn’t obviously far from ITU’s mission to use ICT to help countries reach the Millennium Development Goals. Enforcing ITU’s theme for the 2011 that was Better Life in Rural Communities with ICT, Mera Bagwal, Pakistan’s first e-village was seen to completion and actively invested in via Universal Services Fund in a project guarded by PSA. Other than contributing towards the society’s development through the Universal Services Fund, the various Telecom Operators carried CSR initiatives on their own payrolls to facilitate an execution of the resolutions reached for the community’s betterment on the World Telecom Day, 2011.

Having played their part duly each year, what remains to be seen is how do the new players on-board shape the local IT Industry’s commitment to the ITU and promote the intake of women in the local industry.

 

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