Europe’s digital economy and app sector are booming, but where are the women? This is the question posed by the European Commission in its celebration of International Women’s Day.

The facts about women in the digital economy are quite dismal according to the Commission: only nine in 100 European app developers are female; only 19 per cent of ICT managers are women (45 per cent women in other service sectors); only 19 per cent of ICT entrepreneurs are women (54 per cent women in other service sectors); less than 30 per cent of the ICT workforce is female; and the number of female computing graduate is dropping (three per cent of female graduates compared to 10 per cent of male graduates).

Meanwhile, employers report they have trouble finding ICT professionals and Europe could soon face a shortage of up to 900,000 ICT workers – potentially missing an opportunity to fight massive unemployment and risking its digital competitiveness.

The Commission insists that attracting more women to tech careers is an economic imperative. If women held digital jobs as frequently as men, the European GDP could be boosted annually by around €9 billion (1.3 times Malta’s GDP), according to the study. Organisations which are more inclusive of women in management achieve a 35 per cent higher return on equity and 34 per cent better total return to shareholders than other comparable organisations.

“Tech is too important to be left to men alone!” insists European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes, who is also responsible for the Digital Agenda.

“Every week I meet more and more inspiring women in tech. ICT is no longer for the geeky few – it is cool, and it is the future! Only nine per cent of app developers are women? Come on! Give coding a try, see what fun it can be!”

The European Commission has launched a campaign to find and celebrate role models to encourage young women and girls to study and pursue careers in ICT. The Commission is inviting women (and men!) to create a video and share their own digital success story to inspire girls and women to think about tech. The campaign’s website is: http://ictladies.com/

This campaign builds on a Commission study on women in the ICT sector, which found that the best way to get more women into tech jobs is by giving visibility to inspiring tech professionals, thus turning them into role models.

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