The International Taskforce on Women and Information and Communication Technologies (ITF) is a community of expertise of organizations, institutions, businesses, academia and individuals working to increase the economic, social, and educational opportunities for women and girls in the knowledge society in a measurable way. The ITF is recognized as a Community of Expertise (CoE) by the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Link to the video, where Meebo CTO and co-founder Sandy Jen come into the VentureBeat studio to talk about women and tech. VentureBeat featured a few strong and opinionated women CEOs and CTOs in their videos lately, because they think it’s important to show the female faces and voices in the tech industry. And in this interview, Jen said that’s one of the most important things for encouraging more female entrepreneurship.

Women in tech often have different experiences and encounter different challenges than do their male counterparts. The same goes for people in underrepresented ethnic groups. VentureBeat published an article Why more women aren’t working in tech (hint: it’s not just education), which discussed the Level Playing Field Institute’s recently released report, The Tilted Playing Field: Hidden Bias in Information Technology Workplaces, a study on how biases we may not even know exist, are present and affect workplace environments.

Level Playing Field Institute increases fairness in education and the workplace by closing the opportunity gap and removing barriers to success.

Linda Fitzgerald, who began working in the Information Technology field more than 25 years ago, recalls sitting at the back of the room at a company gathering of about 400 people, scanning the crowd and noticing there were hardly any women. "There were about 10 of us and I remember thinking how weird that was. It really drove home how male dominated our field was then - and amazingly still is. I'm so glad it didn't scare me away. The tech sector is fascinating and during my time we've done things that have transformed our lives. There aren't many professions that can boast such amazing success," she says. Fitzgerald is concerned about how few women view IT as a top career choice.

The glass ceiling, a phrase popularized in a 1986 Wall Street Journal article, has been invoked for years as the barrier keeping women from reaching the executive ranks in numbers paralleling men. It makes for a compelling image, especially given the stagnation in the representation of women in the executive suites of the largest companies despite their growing presence in the lower ranks. But does it really tell the whole story? At Catalyst, we've wondered whether the problems actually ran deeper in organizations, and what might be thwarting women's progress long before they found themselves bumping up against that barrier.

STEMNET creates opportunities to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). STEMNET provide STEM Ambassadors, teachers, STEM employers, STEMNET Contract Holders with many new ways to promote the STEM subjects and related careers.

A US agency that extends assistance to countries recovering from disaster and trying to escape poverty is helping Pakistani women learn skills in information technology. Twenty Pakistani women employees working in engineering, customer service, commercial, and revenue departments at that Islamabad Electric Supply Company are receiving training from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

You know the adage "two guys in a garage"? Well, not anymore – there are a new crop of accelerators, incubators and programs aimed at creating diverse and remarkably innovative startups. Thanks to this new trend in the startup industrial complex, "accelerators are offering the guidance to men and women, but the women are taking advantage of that and that’s made a big difference – particularly for women," said Francine Sommer with Village Ventures in a DigiDay panel discussion earlier this year.

Microsoft released a survey of college science, math and engineering majors this month that underscored differences between the motivations of male and female students. The top two reasons for choosing a science-tech major were "good salary out of school" and intellectual stimulation, but salary was the top choice for men, intellectual stimulation the top pick for women.