Celebrating Girls in ICT Day With Lead Like a Girl

International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in April. The day aims to create awareness on the need for more girls and women in the information and communications technology sector.  It provides opportunities for them to be exposed to the benefits of ICT in enabling their career and aspirations. In alignment with these goals, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, together with UNICEF, hosted an event with the slogan “Lead Like a Girl”. Today, one hundred female high school students from across Belize will participate in interactive challenges and learned from powerful women what it means to lead like a girl. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with more on that story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

For the past decade, people all over the world have participated in the celebration of Girls in ICT Day. It is meant to draw attention to the critical need for more girls and women in the ICT sector, both in education and the workforce. It is estimated that only seventeen percent of ICT specialists are women. To counter this issue, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology and UNICEF hosted the Lead Like a Girl event where they listened to and interacted with women in positions of power to gain inspirations.

 

Nicole Solano, CEO, Ministry of Tourism Diaspora Relations

“It takes a lot of courage to lead like a girl. I think that we’re cultured, and today’s a little bit different than when I was growing up, right? But, we’re cultured to, I think, be a little bit more in a supporting role as women. And I think that girls have to realize that they’re natural leaders. So, to be confident and to know. that a lot of the challenges that they face are similar to the challenges that men face, except men tend to handle these challenges a little bit different. So I think girls really do need to look at how to be courageous and how to be confident. And those are, you know, being bold and not afraid. Those are some of the qualities I think it takes to lead like a girl.”

 

With technology playing a vital role in all kinds of careers, from art and history to law, primary teaching and graphic design, learning tech skills at a young age will set girls up for economic independence. The objective of this event was not only to encourage girls to pursue fields in STEM, but also give young women the confidence to step into these fields, even if they are dominated by men. Allison Parker, the UNICEF representative to Belize, shared with the girls, three tips to lead like a girl.

 

Allison Parker, UNICEF representative to Belize

“Be unique. For you to lead like a girl, you can never follow the crowd. You’ll have to be unique. Step out of your comfort zone. Step out of what is familiar. Step out of what you know, because that’s the only way we break the glass ceilings. Number two, follow your passion.  If you don’t have passion, When these blocks begin to hit you like CEO Santos says, you will almost give up. But whenever you wake up in the morning and say, why am I doing this? Your passion tells you, there is another day. And that’s why we have electricity today.  Somebody tried 99 times, and it didn’t work. But because of passion, they did one more time. And today, we have what we have. Let’s go one more time. Let’s go one more effort. Let’s dig another well and let’s see what we can do together. And the final thing that I want you to do is to show up and voice up no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter your color, your race, your background, no matter what you are here because you have a value addition.” 

 

Also speaking at the event was UNICEF youth ambassador, Alaine Perdomo. The Belize High School student is dedicated to creating a positive change in the world and her community. Perdomo is an international coding gold medalist who has used her talents to create the Safescape app. This app creates a secure online platform for women and girls who have experienced sexual assault to share their experience and seek help and comfort.

 

Alaine Perdomo, UNICEF Youth Ambassador

“So with this, you can log your feelings, and it gives you suggestions and what you can do, and over time, this teaches you how to regulate and deal with your emotions. Thanks. It also, to the next slide, provides a resource section which allows you to find the resources near you so that you know where you can get help from. And it also provides a forum which allows you to connect with other people who have been in similar situations because it, um, tackles feelings of isolation and allows you to learn from others.  and their diverse experiences. So, there’s also different groups. For example, if you’re a family member and you’re looking to see how other people might have, other family members might have dealt with helping people who they love and are close to deal with this, you can find, uh, support from other people through here.”

 

The Lead Like a Girl event ended with the participants pledging to continue aspiring to be leaders and support fellow women on their journeys.

 

Alaine Perdomo

“There are many, many issues, and the diverse perspectives of women can be Tackle these issues through similar recognition, research, planning, and development. Issues that you too have the power to tackle with your incredible and unique ideas as girls. By leading like a girl, you are intelligent, you are passionate, you are brave, and you are determined  and you have the power to follow your passions and create an incredible future for your community and world.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.