International Women’s Day sees the launch of a campaign featuring great women of the past who made technological breakthroughs.
Milan, 4 March 2021 – Recent data confirm that in Italian universities 18,3% of the total number of female students choose STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses. In the most recent academic year female students accounted for 37% of total students enrolled in scientific faculties. This gap is also reflected in the labour market, where, one year after graduation, employment levels for males after earning a STEM degree, reach 91,8%, while it is 89,3% for females (*).
In order to make a real contribution to bridging this gender gap in uptake of STEM subjects, MediaWorld is taking advantage International Women’s Day. Market leader in Italy in the distribution of electronic goods and part of the international MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, MediaWorld is supporting GirlsTech, an initiative to promote gender equality through educational events and activities, created by SYX, a non-profit association which publicises new IT technologies.
4 months of online courses for a total of 270 hours of free training targeted at girls from 7 to 18, with the goal of developing female technological talents by providing training and development courses, to give concrete support the female presence in science and tech sectors.
The courses are delivered by GirlsTech and taught by professionals and will cover some of the most up to date subjects: from coding with Scratch and Python to designing apps and videogames, from cybersecurity to graphic design.
“We are committed to the values of equal opportunities, talent development and inclusivity and ensuring they are really enforced every day. Encouraging female presence – today around 50% of our employees – is an integral part of this commitment and a pillar of our strategy for growth and competitiveness”, says Alessandra Bergamo, Head of MediaWorld Italia HR. “Technological innovation and science are invaluable tools for the future of young people and to build a more equal society. However, there are still too few girls who decide to focus on these disciplines and that’s why we have decided to organise this project and dedicate it, on this symbolic day, to young Italian women”.
“SYX’s goal with GirlsTech is to eliminate the gender gap in the STEM world in Italy. This project brings positive value, it demonstrates how things can change. Our vision is a world in which girls are free to know and choose a career in technology and digital, without prejudice and obstacles, creating wealth by showing their own creativity and expertise “, comments Francesco Ronchi, founder and Vice-President of SYX.
Information on how to enrol in the courses is available on the page of the MediaWorld site mediaworld.it/tech-is-pink.
MediaWorld is flanking the training programme targeted at young Italian women with a campaign celebrating great female pioneers of the past, examples for new generations and inspiration to overcome the women/tech dichotomy.
History teaches us that throughout the centuries a great many women were behind great technological innovations. Just think of Florence Parpart who invented the modern fridge, Ada Lovelace who wrote the first IT program in history in the 19th century or even Sophie Wilson, the mind behind the most common microprocessor in the world.
The campaign was created by the Armando Testa Group and developed on digital channels by Plan.net. It invites Italians to discover the contribution made by these great women from the past with a landing page dedicated to numerous social activities. In addition, the iconic red M of MediaWorld turns pink becoming a hyper-techno M which is the main feature of all the communication. The campaign is on air from 4 to 14 March and includes 360° integrated communication covering TV and RADIO, as well as digital and social networks, also including points of sale and POP materials.
To celebrate the pink side of technology, MediaWorld has launched the Tech is Pink promotion, selecting the best products and accessories paying special attention to women, from the ultra-light convertibles to tech products for beauty, body and hair care, trendy coloured smartphones, not forgetting TVs and accessories for those who love to cook.
The 7 women who changed history and revolutionised our lives thanks to some of the most important technological innovations and who inspired Tech is Pink.
Florence Parpart
She was granted a patent in 1914 for the modern refrigerator, which made the ice-box obsolete for anyone who had electricity.
Josephine Cochrane
in 1886 Josephine exclaimed furiously: “If no one has invented a machine to wash dishes yet, then I’ll do it myself!” That’s how Mrs Cochrane built wire compartments, specifically designed for dishes, and positioned the sections in a drum inside a copper boiler. It was patented and installed in the Cochrane home on 28 December 1886. Josephine’s friends were so amazed they called the machine “the Cochrane dishwasher”. Josephine demonstrated her machine at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 when she won first prize.
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is often remembered as the mother of today’s computers and the first computer programmer in the world. Daughter of the famous Lord Byron, she was raised by her mother, who taught her mathematics. Ada contributed to Charles Babbage’s invention on the analytic machine, she wrote the first IT program in history: an algorithm to generate Bernoulli’s numbers.
Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper was an American mathematician and IT technician, famous for working on the first commercial computer in history. She invented the first user-friendly programming language for commercial activities known as COBOL. She introduced the term – “bug” – for a machine mal-function, an expression commonly used today.
Hedy Lamarr
Actress, researcher and scientist. She was responsible for the invention in the first half of the ‘30s, of a modulation system to codify information for transmission on radio frequencies, which allowed for remote control of torpedoes and naval vessels. Lamarr patented the system with a friend, immediately arousing the interest of the secret service and military apparatus, laying the basis for not only cryptology but also mobile phones and wireless IT systems.
Radia Perlman
Internet as we know it today might not have existed without the inventions of Radia Perlman. At 68 she is still counted among the greatest network engineering experts in the world: Radia Perlman has numerous patents, but the invention which made her famous is the Spanning Tree Protocol, used to build complex networks and fundamental for the working of the web. She is one of the world specialists in software design and IT network engineering.
Sophie Wilson
Born in 1957, she designed one of the first computers, Acorn System 1, and corresponding programming language BBC BASIC. She is famous for designing the Arm microprocessor, which is used today in thousands of different products from smartphones to tablets, from digital TVs to videogames.
* SOURCE: Osservatorio Talents Venture e STEAMiamoci sul Gender Gap nelle facoltà STEM
(Talents Venture Observatory and STEAMiamoci on Gender Gap in STEM faculties)
Information about MediaWorld
The first consumer electronics chain in Europe with over 1,000 megastores, the second worldwide, MediaMarkt Saturn Retail Group operates in Italy with the MediaWorld brand, the leading company in this sector in the country. Currently MediaWorld is present with 117 points of sale located throughout Italy.
Information about SYX
Founded in 2018, SYX is a non-profit organisation which holds conferences, workshops, training courses and networking events on new IT technologies. It organises droidcon Italy, the biggest Italian conference dedicated to Android developers and Swift Heroes, the international event on Apple programming language. In recent years it has delivered courses to more than 50 companies on Android and iOS Development, Mobile Security, UX and UI Design.
It has been organising GirlsTech since 2019. The first Italian event dedicated to female inclusivity for women in the STEM world, from both the educational point of view and on the professional front. GirlsTech also includes face-to-face or remote IT courses and workshop for kids and girls aged 7 to 18.
Information on GirlsTech
GirlsTech is an initiative dedicated to “female tech” organized by SYX. The goal of the event is to fight gender differences to encourage inclusivity in the world of technology and science, through dialogue and concrete actions guaranteeing equal educational and training opportunities for girls and young women.
GirlsTech is not just an event, but a range of STEM type educational activities for kids and girls from 7 to 18.
CREDITS
Agency: Armando Testa Group
Executive creative directors: Georgia Ferraro, Nicola Cellemme
Creative team: Carlotta Gilardi, Chiara Panattoni
Production Company: Little Bull Studios
