The Digital Agenda is the key to Europe's Future and Every Woman Digital is the key to the success of the Digital Agenda! The 17th of June 2011 was the big day towards a Gender Action Plan for the Digital Agenda. ECWT Members actively promoted the ideas proposed in the ECWT Position Paper for Lining up for a GAP of the Digital Agenda. Workshop 22 Women for Smart Growth was a good mixture of public and private actors, academia and NGOs from mainly Europe and some from the US and Australia.

Introducing quotas for large businesses hiring a certain number of women to senior roles is the "only sure fire way" to ensure more women reach the boardroom. This is the view of Preethi Sundaram, policy and campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society, who claimed that running "business as usual" is not working. She suggests that large firms should have mandatory quotas to promote gender equality, although that it is not the popular choice, but might be necessary.

The Fawcett Society has called for greater female representation in British politics when the government looks to reform the House of Lords. Launching the campaign "Counting Women In" along with the Hansard Society, the Electoral Reform Society and the Centre for Women and Democracy, the groups suggest that a lack of female representation affects the democratic society and all decision-making.

More than six in ten women think men are better at getting promotions and pay rises than the fairer sex, a major new survey has revealed. The National Survey on Women and Work by Marie Claire and Everywoman has highlighted some startling issues still facing women in the workplace, showing that sexism is still prevalent even in the 21st century.

Men and women interested in a career in IT have been called to apply for 50 associate software developer jobs at Sky. The broadcaster has launched a training academy to equip the new recruits with technology skills before they begin to develop new apps and websites and interactive mobile services such as Sky Sports Football Score and skynews.com.

The videos that the Anita Borg Institute created about the winners of our 2011 Women of Vision Awards are now posted on our YouTube channel. Chieko Asakawa, Women of Vision Award Winner for Leadership, Mary Lou Jepsen, Women of Vision Award Winner for Innovation, and Karen Panetta, Women of Vision Award Winner for social impact.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) hosted its first Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Workshop on May 19, 2011 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. The sold out Workshop featured speakers from top high-tech companies companies including the Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award winner IBM, as well as Cisco, Google, Symantec, Intel, Intuit, CA Technologies, Microsoft Research and SAP. The Top Company workshop featured solutions in increasing the representation of technical women, and in their retention and advancement.

IDC MEA is organizing ARAB WOMEN AND ICT in partnership with AICTO and ISESCO, in order to discuss how empowering Arab women in the ICT sector and improve their education in ICT, a vital tool that will allow them to improve their lives, provide and give them the opportunity to contribute to their country's economy.
Topics to be discussed: How ICT serves Gender equity in Arab Countries; Reflection on the role of Arab women in Arab society today and witnessed continual technological change; A look at the state digital illiteracy of Arab women and how to encourage them to take full advantage of new information technologies and communication (ICT); A look at programs forefront of Arab women using ICTs; Capacity building of women through new technologies and offer them the opportunity to improve their situation and succeed.

HIMSS Europe delivered its annual Leadership award to Dr. Jean Roberts, an English internationally renowned health IT professional "for her many years of service to eHealth in Europe and her extensive, multi-faceted experience in academic research and her ability to design and implement strategic health initiatives and manage complex programmes and projects in informatics and e-health business areas". Dr. Roberts nowadays works as an Independent Health Informatics Consultant in Phoenix Associates, Staffordshire, and is a member of the British Computer Society’s Professional Development Board.

Does Interdisciplinary Education improve the gender balance and attract more young people in Engineering and Technology higher education? Attracting more young people, particularly women, in Engineering and Technology (ET) is a major concern in Europe today. Their participation in engineering occupations appears to be a key-issue for European economic and technical development, as well as a central achievement towards gender equality and social justice. Increasing young people interest in the sciences and mathematics and underlining the importance of Engineering and Technology developments in shaping our collective future is an ongoing project in the education sector.