European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has urged more women to take up role in the tech sector.
According to figures from the European Commission, only nine per cent of app developers in Europe are female. Furtheremore, Kroes said that women make us less than 30 per cent of the overall tech sector.
Tech is too important to be left to men alone! Every week I meet more and more inspiring women in tech.
Kroes said that IT is "no longer for the geeky few."
"Tech is too important to be left to men alone! Every week I meet more and more inspiring women in tech," she said.
Just 19 per cent of IT managers are female, compared with 45 per cent in other sectors, according EC research. What's more, just 19 per cent of IT entrepreneurs are female, compared with 54 per cent in other service sectors.
The EC plans to tackle the lack of women in IT with a new initiative called ICT Ladies. The campaign is focused on finding and celebrating role models to encourage young women and girls to study and pursue careers in IT. The campaign features testimonials from a number of successful women in tech.
"We wanted to provide a platform for women to tell their stories about getting ahead in tech. And there are so many success stories out there so please share yours and help us to inspire the next generation," said Kroes.
According to an EC study, if women held digital jobs as frequently as men, the European GDP could be boosted annually by around 9 billion.
Organisations which are more inclusive of women in management achieve a 35 per cent higher 'Return on Equity' (the amount of company profit in relation to the total volume of shareholders' equity) and 34 per cent better total return to shareholders than other comparable organisations, the study added.
