For this year’s International Women’s Day, the European Parliament is stressing the importance of the role women play in media and ICT.
The media and information technology (ICT) sectors are among the most competitive and influential industries in the EU and further afield. It is, therefore, very important that women are as equally represented as men in these sectors.
Parliament is of the view that more incentives are needed to get women into higher positions in the world of media and to encourage young girls to choose ICT as a career path.
To raise awareness of these issues, for this year’s International Women Day the EP’s gender equality committee is organizing an inter-parliamentary meeting in Brussels where particular emphasis will be placed on a set of issues relevant to gender equality.
2017 International Women’s Day poster (Photo: Facebook)
The issues being discussed include but are not limited to female leadership in media, empowering women and girls through digital inclusion, and women’s movements in the digital age.
Media is an especially key topic this year because it has the capacity to influence public opinion and frame information.
The inter-parliamentary meeting will have both the Parliament’s chair of the gender equality committee, Vilija Blinkeviciute, and the commissioner for gender equality, Vera Jourová.
The session, including a parliamentary debate among the participating MPs, will available via web-streaming during a live broadcast on EP’s website on 8 March from 09:00 Central European Time.
The Parliament is also planning to organize a seminar for journalists whereby speakers will include but are not limited to members of the gender quality committee, let alone various academics and external experts.
The European Parliament’s work in protecting women’s rights and gender equality are glad tidings in a time when fighting violence and discrimination directed at women is more important than ever to promote the equal representation of men and women in political and economic decision making.
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
