While every day should be International Women's Day, it is great that a single day in March has been singled out to devote to celebrate women's social, economic, cultural, political and global achievements. While the gender gap is still a huge issue of debate and one that the World Economic Forum predicts won't be solved until 2133, many fields including STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) continue to struggle with enabling equal pay and benefits to women.
Microsoft is celebrating International Women's Day by raising awareness and calling girls around the workd to #MakeWhatsNext. A longtime supporter of enabling girls to code early as well as get the inspiration and training to become the best they can be. The company believes that we need more girls and women to contribute their ideas to the world."We aim to empower this generation of young women with the knowledge, skills and resources needed to become the next Ada Lovelace, in a world where technology is embedded into every aspect of life," Microsoft says.
"We are encouraging girls to participate in our YouthSpark programs around the world, particularly in the DigiGirlz Days (Mississauga, Vancouver, and Winnipeg) and explore our online hub for inspiration and all the tools needed today to create tomorrow’s innovations to change the world. We are even proposing to help some outstanding girls patent their ideas."
On March 8th Microsoft Canada will also be partnering with Startup Canada to engage in their International Women’s day events. Janet Kennedy, President of Microsoft Canada will be attending the Women’s leaders breakfast with Minister Bardish Chagger, and participating in a national panel discussion.