Three prominent women are set to receive United Nations award recognizing their leadership and dedication to promote information and communications technologies (ICTs) as a means to empower women and girls.
The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced today that the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner; the Chairperson of the Chinese company Huawei, Sun Yafang, and United States Oscar-winning actress and rights advocate Geena Davis, will be awarded the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award for their significant contribution to the ongoing digital revolution in ICTs.
The theme of this year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is “Women and Girls in ICT.”
The ITU’s Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure commended the work of the three award-winners in promoting both the involvement of women in the ICT field.
Mr. Toure says the ability of technology to empower women and girls in communities around the world is still largely untapped.
He adds that ITU is determined to work with partners across all sectors of society to promote the full potential of ICTs for the benefit of women and girls.
Throughout her presidency, Ms. Fernandez has sought to advance telecommunication development in her country and has also been a strong defender of human rights and gender equity.
ITU says since becoming Huawei’s Chairperson, Ms. Sun has turned the Chinese telecommunications company into a global enterprise that provides innovative technologies.
Hollywood actress Ms. Davis, long-time advocate for women and girls, is the founder of the nonprofit The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and its programming arm See Jane, which engages film and television creators to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters. An award-winning actress, Davis received the 1989 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Accidental Tourist,” and won the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama.
Ms. Davis is also ITU’s special envoy for women and girls in the field of ICT.
The awards ceremony will take place in Geneva on 16th of May.
On April 2011, the United Nations telecommunications agency also launched the first “Girls in ICT Day.”
The Girls in ICT Day will be observed on the fourth Thursday of April every year to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through the use of ICTs. .
ITU’s support for the establishment of the Day and for the launch of the Global Network of Women in ICT are among the first in a year-long series of activities around the theme of “Women and Girls in ICT” endorsed by the ITU resolution.
