Gender Equality Mainstreaming - Technology (GEM-TECH) Award

"The initiative comes in the wake of the disclosure of 'diversity' figures by major tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo and LinkedIn, which reveal that, across the board, the number of women in tech jobs is well under 20 per cent, with the percentage of women in leadership roles not much better - reflecting a global lack of women coming into the ICT field."

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UN [United Nations] Women have launched a global technology award that recognises outstanding contributions from women and men in leveraging the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote gender equality.

Seven winners from government, the private sector, academia, and civil society will be selected by a committee of experts from ITU and UN Women within these 7 awards categories:

1. "ICT Applications, Content, Production Capacities and Skills for Women's Social, Political Empowerment and Women's Empowerment Linkages with Sustainable Development.
2. ICT Applications, Content, Production Capacities and Skills for Women's Economic Empowerment and Poverty Reduction.
3. Promoting Women in ICT Sector - initiatives aimed at attracting, retaining and promoting women within the ICT sector and into decision-making positions (private and public sector).
4. Enabling Girls to Become ICT Creators - initiatives aimed towards providing girls with an opportunity to become not just active users but also creators of ICTs and content.
5. Closing the ICT Gender Gap - Ensuring ICT accessibility for women, such as digital literacy training and ensuring affordable and meaningful access to ICTs by women. Initiatives aimed at measuring the ICT gender gap including research and data on women's engagement with ICTs and their impact.
6. Efforts to Reduce Threats Online and Building Women's Confidence and Security in the Use of ICTs.
7. ICT and Broadband strategies policies, framework that promote women's digital empowerment."

The 7 winners will travel to Busan, Korea, to accept their award and join a global celebration "promoting the power of ICTs to transform lives" at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference on October 21 2014.