On the fourth Thursday of April every year, ITU members celebrate the International Girls in ICT Day. This is an initiative backed by the ITU Member States in Plenipotentiary Resolution 70 in 2014 to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the field of information and communication technologies.

On its 10th Anniversary, the event’s theme was ‘Connected Girls, Creating Brighter Futures’. AU Alumni and Faculty discussed the importance of Girls in ICT with our Junior Fellows. AU Professors Nanette Levinson, Fiona Alexander, and Laura DeNardis, as well as AU Vice Provost for Research, Diana Burley, and the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, talked about their own experiences in the field and discussed ICT innovations by women.

The event was followed by breakout groups with Flavia Alves, Head of International Institutions at Facebook, Divya Ramjee, Ph.D. Candidate in Justice, Law & Criminology at American University, and Taylor Reynolds, technology policy director of MIT's Internet Policy Research Initiative. Participants learned more about women's engagement in computer sciences, the communication sector, global inquiry, and development.

Our Junior Fellow Walker Evans edited a video highlighting comments from our Faculty and Alumni, as well as remarks by Junior Fellows Alisha Changgani, Rhea Khurana, Kathleen Scoggin, and Sophie Zabell. Watch the inspiring video below and join us in advancing girls’ involvement in all aspects of the technology field: