Microsoft: Helping to Educate and Empower Women and Girls Around The World
Microsoft’s reach extends to almost every corner of the globe. FOSI’s newly-published Global Family Online Safety Footprint highlights countries in which Microsoft is undertaking or has undertaken activity related to online safety, ICT and digital literacy, all of which appear on the relevant country page on GRID. The data was generated as a result of ongoing research by the editorial team into country-level initiatives.
In this blog post (the second in a series) we provide an overview of some of the company’s projects around the globe and highlight some of the initiatives which are supported by Microsoft, particularly as they relate to women or girls and technology and education.
Microsoft works in partnership and cooperation with a wide range of international organizations in order to help them achieve their objectives. This includes assisting countries in their efforts to foster sustainable economic growth, promote social development and meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Goal 3 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to promote gender equality and empower women.1
“Poverty has a woman’s face. Global prosperity and peace will only be achieved once all the world’s people are empowered to order their own lives and provide for themselves and their families. Societies where women are more equal stand a much greater chance of achieving the Millennium Goals by 2015. Every single Goal is directly related to women’s rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner. In Asia, Latin America and Africa, where women have been given the chance to succeed through small business loans or increased educational opportunities, families are stronger, economies are stronger, and societies are flourishing.”
Women in Technology (WIT) for the Middle East and North Africa is funded by the United States State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, implemented in collaboration with local partners in nine countries/regions: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen.2 The aims of WIT are to empower women and increase their participation in the workforce by providing partner organizations with curricula, training, professional development, and Information Technology. WIT uses Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential (UP) curricula to teach IT skills to women. To learn more about the UP curriculum click here.
The Microsoft Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program has been providing support for technology skills training across Asia since 2004.3 The program has invested more than US$6.5 million in cash and software to NGO partners whose projects are focused on the employability and empowerment of women in Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. To learn more about the program click here.
On International Women’s Day, 2013, Madagascar held its first DigiGirlz workshop.4 The aim of the workshops is to encourage high school girls to consider careers in technology, Microsoft supports the DigiGirlz project, which is a YouthSpark initiative. Microsoft employees attend the sessions and, as well as interacting with the girls about careers, run technology workshops. Sessions take place in countries all over the world and are free of charge. A list of events for 2013 is available here.
Not all projects are large-scale or global ones. In Peru, Microsoft has donated software to some of the NGOs working within the country, for the benefit of girls and young women. In 2010, the international human rights organization, Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Love), launched a training program for the girls and young women in its care, many of who have fled from abuse or violence.5 The Buen Trato Hoyde Foster House in Huanuco is home to around 80 girls who, among other forms of support, receive IT training to further both their education and employment prospects.
These are just a few examples of ways in which Microsoft has provided, and continues to provide, support and education to girls and young women around the world.
Additional Information
Millennium Campaign
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013
Microsoft’s work with international organizations
Sources
1 http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/publications/pid/6090 (last accessed September 16, 2013)
2 http://www.microsoftlocalimpactmap.com/#2/707/1/////////1/171/2197/199/4////////199/6/33.3387%252c43.6898 (last accessed September 5, 2013)
3 http://www.microsoftlocalimpactmap.com/#2/717/1/////////1/146/541/146/////////146/4/36.9565%252c104.1658 (last accessed September 13, 2013)
4 http://www.microsoftlocalimpactmap.com/#2/-2373/1/////////1/171/3069/208/4////////208/6/-18.9165%252c46.8376 (last accessed September 6, 2013)
5 http://www.microsoftlocalimpactmap.com/#2/-1779/1/////////1/78/1653/89/4////////89/5/-9.3012%252c-75.0024 (last accessed September 6, 2013)