The fourth Thursday in April (falling on the 25th this year) has been designated Girls in ICT Day by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in response to the global decline in the number of schoolgirls opting to pursue technology-related careers.

ICT is consistently ranked among the top 20 tech careers in terms of pay and long term prospects, and as one of the more stable and robust sectors, there is a strong, and by all indications ongoing, demand for young ICT professionals entering the market. It is also a domain boasting a good gender balance, and the ITU hope to use these facts, combined with its activities on Girls in ICT Day, to reverse the trend witnessed in other tech industries, and to grow the number of girls and women pursuing careers in the ICT sector.

In 2012, Girls in ICT Day involved approximately 1,300 events held by governments, the private sector and NGOs in 87 countries, and it is estimated that these events reached over 30,000 school-age girls. In 2013 the aim is to grow participation to 100 countries, for even greater impact. In the social media space, events related to the day are linked through the #girlsdigital hashtag. One of the global online initiatives is the ITU-hosted Girls in ICT Portal, a consolidated source of information and resources on ICT opportunities for girls.

Perhaps the sentiment of the day is worded best on the Tech Needs Girls website: “Word’s out that tech has an image problem among girls who think it might be boring, geeky, uncreative and not really helping anyone! (…) So we’re here to encourage girls to step up to technology and not leave all the fun to boys in shaping our futures…”