While women form more than 50% of businesses in the United States and 30% of businesses globally, they continue to receive only 2-3% of entrepreneurial private capital funding (of which 77% is focused on technology) and have disproportionately low participation in private debt funding. Much of this disparity has been attributed to poor diversity and inclusion practices, ranging from predatory behaviors such as harassment to more subtle factors such as unconscious bias. The EQ

This list, created in support of EQUALS by members of its Leadership Coalition, highlights 25 actions that individual engineers can take to be more inclusive, as a complement to steps taken by employers. Business Leadership 1. Be sensitive to the impact of micro-inequities. Pay attention to language and assumptions in daily conversations that may inadvertently reinforce stereotypes. Listen for and correct personality penalties in casual conversation.[i] Interrupt "fixed mind

"Ubuntu" is an ancient humanist African philosophy which was coined from the Zulu phrase "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu", which literally means that a person is a person through other people. It drives at the relatedness and “family-ness” that should exist between people and supports the idea of community as the building blocks of society. Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously described Ubuntu as "the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is

Last week in Geneva, UNCTAD’s World Investment Forum (WIF18) brought together a group of passionate, global pioneers all working towards progressive goals, under the central theme of "Investment in Sustainable Development". With over 50 events joined by over 5,000 participants, this distinguished platform allowed a number of stakeholders from governmental and international organizations, business, civil societies, academia and visionaries to all come together under one roof,

Growing partnership agrees to bold goals to close the gender gap in tech New York, 22 September 2018 — The EQUALS Global Partnership today committed to a broad set of strategic goals to bridge the digital gender divide, at its annual principals’ meeting at the Yale Club in New York City. The meeting brought together influential EQUALS partners representing leading private sector organizations, universities, United Nations organizations and government agencies—who work togethe

As a highly sought-after board member for internet and financial companies, founder and CEO of 1AU-Ventures, and Senior Advisor, Artificial Intelligence and Analytics at McKinsey, Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach focuses on strategies in growth and partnerships in businesses that seemed like science fiction in the not-too-distant past. Lauterbach, lead author of The Artificial Intelligence Imperative. A Practical Roadmap for Business, believes that “AI technology reflects its creato

It’s 2018, and still some people are surprised that not only do women scientists "exist," but also that they are good at what they do! We all know that many top-level scientists are women, but statistics tell us that we’re still far away from gender equality in science. Excellent female scientists have always existed, but they have often worked in the shadows: think of Rosalind Franklin, who with her experiments gave proof of the structure of DNA, but was not even mentioned i

I grew up taking apart computers with my father. I’d muse about books on my father’s bookshelves with strange titles: PERL, Java, C++. “Daddy, what do they mean?” I would ask. “Those are computer languages,” my father would explain. I was fascinated that computers have languages just like humans. I mastered computer languages as a teenager at school. Then, my curiosity shifted to what is inside a computer. I set out for Stanford to study electrical engineering. While I excell

Can digital technologies consign gender inequality to history? Consider that 55 percent of new Internet businesses are founded by women in China. In Indonesia, 35 percent of revenue on the country’s largest online marketplace is earned by women-owned businesses—more than double the share in offline commerce. China Entrepreneur Club Secretary General Maggie Cheng speaking at a breakfast meeting with Lord Livingston, Minister of State for Trade and Investment in London, 1 May 2

Gender diversity in tech has proven benefits; however, it’s still the case that women are hugely underrepresented in this industry. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, only 26% of tech roles in the U.S. were held by women in 2017, while the percentage of women CIOs (Chief Information Officers) at Fortune 500 companies in 2017 was just 17%. It would be one thing if this was representative of the population, but I have news for you: women make u

The EQUALS partnership continues to grow, and today we are delighted to formally announce two new partners. Both Planet Mogul and Women 2.0 will join EQUALS as members of our Leadership Coalition, focused on helping women advance in the tech sector and creating entrepreneurship opportunities all over the world. Read more about our newest partners: Planet Mogul Planet Mogul is a private sector enterprise that develops and encourages the next generation of entrepreneurs, innova

International Girls in ICT Day is held worldwide each year to encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At EQUALS, we believe every day should be Girls in ICT Day! To show why we're passionate about the event, here’s a post from Nayeon Park, Communications Aide at the United Nations International Computer Center. She participated in a 2018 Girls in ICT Day event in New York City and shared he

6 June 2018 -- The EQUALS Global Network Partnership is pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation has become the latest official EQUALS Global Partner. Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, performing the universal sign of digital gender equality. Credit: Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports Wikipedia, the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects, and its mission of free knowledge for ever

The United Nations has its own Hidden Figures story around its creation. Hidden Figures is the story of black female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration but were kept in the background. At the conference at which the UN was founded in 1945, women constituted only 3% of the delegates but they played a very key part in its creation, which is not widely known. Only four women signed the UN Charter. At the time, in twenty of the fifty co

In anticipation of ITU’s AI for Good Summit, Ms. Kathleen Siminyu has been invited to give her perspective on why women’s voices are needed to ensure that the benefits of automation and AI are shared by all. Biases in Machine Learning Organizations are increasingly reliant on Machine Learning (ML) models to weigh in on decisions to hire, grant loans, sentence criminals, and release prisoners on parole. While it may seem that limiting the role of humans in such decisions would

Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is a youth-led movement of daring social innovators who have the tools, knowledge, and networks to create opportunities and transform their own communities. An EQUALS partner in the Access Coalition, DOT work with youth, the private sector, governments, and community-based organizations in 25 countries towards a collaborative vision of communities around the world shaped by social innovators. At only 22 years old, Ariane Umuringa has already co

Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is a youth-led movement of daring social innovators who have the tools, knowledge, and networks to create opportunities and transform their own communities. An EQUALS partner in the Access Coalition, DOT work with youth, the private sector, governments, and community-based organizations in 25 countries towards a collaborative vision of communities around the world shaped by social innovators. As a Digital Champion with DOT, Kijoli Mjombo mentor

“What started as a small idea in Rwanda is now a part of the Smart Africa agenda,” said Lucy Mbabazi, President of Girls in ICT Rwanda. In the past week, 10 female contestants from across Africa competed in the final round for this year’s Miss Geek Africa title, an annual competition encouraging girls to address community challenges through technology. Salissou Hassane Latifa, Miss Geek Africa 2018, receives her cash prize. Photo credit: KT Press The grand finale took place a

In anticipation of the Girls in ICT Day on April 26th, EQUALS caught up with Roberta Cocco, the Councilor for Digital Transformation and Citizens Services at the Municipality of Milan, which has engaged extensively on the gender digital divide in the past She explains how their project #STEMintheCity advances the role of girls and women in STEM fields. 1) The month-long #STEMintheCity festival in Milano places a special emphasis on empowering school girls in STEM fields. How