The International Girls In ICT Day is annually commemorated to inspire and motivate females to seek careers in ICTs. This day is celebrated to give them the knowledge, self-assurance, and support they need to succeed in their career path.
The International Girls in ICT Day is marked on the fourth Thursday of April to raise awareness of the value of girls in I.C.T. and to inspire more girls and young women to pursue STEM-related courses (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This year, it will take place on the 27th of April. ICT or Information and Communications Technology, is an umbrella word covering the technologies required to send, store, create, share, or exchange data. The internet (social media, websites, blogs, and emails), computers, live broadcasting technologies such as audio and video players, storage devices, podcasts and telephony (fixed or mobile, satellite, Visio/video-conferencing, and more) are among these technologies.
History of ICT
Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and polymath, created the first mechanical computer in 1822. The Difference Engine computer was created to conduct basic computations and handle difficult calculation issues. It contained temporary storage for data, and outputs were pressed into soft metal. Seeing how the Difference Engine could only do one operation, Babbage decided to take things a step further. He invented the Analytical Engine in 1833. This automatic mechanical digital computer was capable of performing all calculations and storing up to 1000 50-digit numbers (more than any other computer constructed prior to 1960).
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, released a paper in 1843 outlining the Analytical Engine and comparing it to current calculators. In 1843, she created the world’s first computer program by sequencing instructions on the Analytical Engine’s punched cards. At the time, King was the world’s lone programming guru. John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania spearheaded an effort to create the first electronic programmable computer in the United States in 1945. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was a Turing-complete computer that could be programmed to solve a wide range of complicated tasks. The ENIAC’s programming was handled by six ladies known as the “ENIAC girls.”
History bears proof of the immense contribution of girls and women in the field of ICT and this day is an honor to them while it also provides an intensive for the future generation to pursue careers and empower themselves in the growing field of ICT.
Girls and young women need to have the necessary abilities as both ICT consumers and creators in the digital world if they inherit the passion to succeed in STEM fields. Hense the theme ‘Digital Skills for Life’ was selected as the theme of the International Girls In ICT Day for the year 2023.
