The European Commission calls for ideas to close the digital gender gap

The European Commission is updating the analysis from the 2013 Women in ICT study. For the preparation of this report, the European Commission welcomes inputs from industry and the civil society, as well as from any other organisation engaged in activities related to the gender digital divide in order to identify trends and analyse success and failure stories to make accurate policy recommendations based on evidence.

For this purpose, the European Commission has launched a ten minutes online questionnaire  (http://bit.ly/womendigital) to assess the current situation identify possible solutions and evaluate the EC role (including as a relevant topic the impact of Social Media/new media on women).
The survey will be available until June 4th.

Background

The European Commission study on women active in the ICT sector published in October 2013 found that allowing more women to enter the digital jobs market can create an annual €9 billion GDP boost in the EU area.

According to the study, today only 30% of the around 7 million people working in the information and communication (ICT) sector in Europe are women. They are under-represented at all levels in the sector, especially in decision-making positions.

Due to differences in demands and skills – and despite soaring unemployment – there may be a lack of 900 000 skilled ICT workers in 2020 in Europe. Meanwhile, take- up of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education by girls remains low and very low for computer science graduates. Only 29 out of every 1000 female graduates have a computing or related degree, and only 4 go on to work in ICT-related activities.

The European Commission Digital Single Market strategy embraces the e-society pillar where people can manage their lives online, with good infrastructure and the right skills. Based on its Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019, the European Commission also specifically supports women in tech in three domains: education, entrepreneurship, research & innovation, while also taking action against gender-based online violence.

For more information: consultation@womendigital.eu