Established in the fall of 2000, the IT Empowerment for
Women and Girls Initiative has 50+ entities (business, agencies, educational
institutions K-16, community-based organizations) involved who have a combined
interest in information technology and gender issues.
MISSION AND CHARTER
The IT Empowerment for Women and Girls Initiative’s mission is to catalyze
efforts of participating organizations to move girls and women into the information
technology/computer science arenas. The effort spans the continuum from career
awareness opportunities to breaking down societal barriers about non-traditional
fields, to the means and encouragement for achieving whatever education or training
level is appropriate, to support and advancement once in the field.
INITIAL CHARTER
1) To share and leverage current efforts
2) To enlighten the public and private sectors about the opportunities and barriers
facing girls and women
3) To advocate about the critical need for women’s involvement and decision-making
in policy, design, deployment, and end use of information and computer technology.
Representatives must be willing to participate in the working group meetings
and the listserv established for the group by the UIC Center for Research on
Women and Gender.
PROGRAM FOCUS
• Build stakeholders via awareness and leveraging of activities.
• Promulgate to business and the public the opportunities and obstacles
in IT/CS for girls and young women.
• Advocate for women to have a seat at the “technology table.”
• All activities are ongoing and build upon each other.
FOUNDERS
Initiated by the Gender Equity Fund of the American Association of University
Women-IL, Inc. with the support of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department
of Labor, this collaboration is a resource for not only its participants, but
also an educational and workforce-related effort.
For further information and requests to affiliate, contact:
Ruth Sweetser
AAUW-IL Gender Equity Fund, Board Member; Co-Founder
Director, Professional Learning and Business Relations,
Illinois Institute of Technology
sweetser@iit.edu, 630/682-6020