UN Women’s continued support for the employment of women in technology

The rate of women’s employment in the lucrative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector remains low. This area is stereotypically considered to be “a man’s job”, which makes it difficult for many women to pursue their desired career paths or to find promising, high-income positions.

UN Women, with the support of the Government of Norway and in partnership with the private sector, has been supporting women’s participation in ICT since 2018. This includes the “500 Women in Tech” project, implemented by the Business and Technology University in partnership with various ICT companies. Having already completed certain training courses, the first group of project participants gathered at a large-scale forum to meet potential employers on 14 July.

The forum gave women the opportunity to hear about job vacancies directly from employers and, when engaged, to take the first steps on their career paths.

“I have received valuable knowledge and experience,” said Maia Mezvrishvili, who took the digital marketing course and participated in the forum. “The course was oriented towards learning-by-doing as much as possible. The lecturers invested a lot of energy into the course and provided us with comprehensive information. We, the course participants, were very active. I am so motivated right now that I want to work for other companies in planning digital marketing campaigns.”

This event was also attended by Ukrainian women and girls who have fled the war in their homeland and since arrived in Georgia. Supported by the project, they are currently enrolled in a fully funded course in digital marketing and product testing.

Fifty companies operating on local and international markets participated in the event, providing a range of information about job opportunities across regional and global markets. Most of these businesses are already signatories of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, which helps drive them to provide continued support to women through training, internships and employment.

“500 Women in Tech” was undertaken within the “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia” project, as part of Women’s Economic Empowerment, and implemented by UN Women with the support of the Government of Norway.