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Women Win through Webbing - A call to action for women inclusion in the field of digital entrepreneurship & innovation

2021-1-DE04-KA152-YOU-0000206772021Mobility of young peoplefinalized
Countries: DE|SE|EL|FI · Grant: €27,520
Youth employabilityDigital skills and competencesPromoting gender equality

Objectives

Although the internet was and still is accessible in all European countries and in all age groups and despite the fact that that the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become an essential feature of both economic and social activity across Europe, men are more regular users of both computers and the internet than women, and many more men than women are employed in computing jobs throughout the EU (Eurostat, 2007). This phenomenon, though, does not seem to be a remnant of the previous decade, as researches still show that fewer women are interested in participating in the digital sector, be it in higher education, jobs or entrepreneurship. Specifically, the Commission's study “Women in the digital age” (WiD) (2018) confirms this trend, with only 24 out of every 1000 female tertiary graduates having studied an ICT-related subject — of which only six go on to work in the digital sector. Coming to the latest situations, in a year of a huge pandemic that highlighted more than any other the importance of the digital world, Commission’s WiD Scoreboard 2020, pointed out that women are still less likely to have specialist digital skills and work in this field compared to men, as only 18% of ICT specialists in the EU are women but the gender gap in basic digital skills has narrowed from 10.5% in 2015 to 7.7% in 2019 (Women in Digital Scoreboard 2020). The hope of eliminating this phenomenon is made even more apparent by the European figures who point out that if more women were to enter the digital market, it could create an annual €16 billion GDP boost for the European economy & their participation would improve the start-up environment, as research shows that female-owned start-ups are more likely to be successful. (WiD, 2018). All the above, in combination with the gender employment gap that remains in the statistics of 2019, led us to design & propose the WWW project, a name that is inspired by the Word Wide Web, been paraphrased here as "Women Win through Webbing". As the project’s name suggests, its main objective is to boost young women (18-30 yo) across the EU to enhance their digital skills to close gender gaps and find ways of employment in the digital world | Vision • Gender equality by increasing labor force participation thus adding to growth and social cohesion | Mission • Young Women enforcement to overcome the obstacle of the digital gender gap in order to achieve economic advancement and benefit their communities by their inclusion in the digital economy. The survey of WiD (2018) shows that young girls refrain from taking up education in STEM fields because of reasons like lack of inspiration and role models. WWW aims to driven girls to reconsider their role in society, through intercultural learning, cooperation, exchange of skills, discussion with local youth. So WWW objectives are: -Combat gender stereotypes and promote role models through the motivation of girls to learn digital skills -The inclusion of young women especially those with fewer opportunities in a European mobility project, in which they will find the space to connect with others, engage, and finally to play a more active role in the digital age -Development of non-formal learning strategies and methods related to digital skills and use of social media -Improving the participation of young women in the field of digital entrepreneurship & innovation -Encourage young women to stand up for European values and to take part in actions designed to promote them -Force youth to European SDGs To meet the needs and goals highlighted above we develop a partnership under the common objective of gender equality & strengthening of ladies' digital abilities. In particular, we found that Sweden & Finland are home to the absolute most dynamic ladies in the digital economy. Ladies in Greece among other countries are the most drastically averse to be participating, either through work, utilization of the web, or skills. We designed 2 activities corresponding to 2 workshops for 24 young women (18-20 yo) and 4 group leaders (Germany & Greece | A1 & A2) (*): non-formal education methods, indoor & outdoor activities, interacting with the local youth, visiting cultural spots, research, creation of a digital skills database The project will promote the values of diversity, human rights, intercultural dialogue, and tolerance while fostering girls to seek more about digital education, strengthening them to be active members in the digital age, empowering them to let their ideas & thoughts turn into inspirational forms by using the digital tools & finally being creative together. Besides, this is the point of the WWW & Erasmus+ program in general. The future is for youth & together we can build it. (*)Finland: Rank: 1, score 74.7 (EU: 54.5) | Sweden: Rank: 3, score 71.3 (EU: 54.5) | Germany: Rank 12, score 54.2 (EU: 54.5) | Greece: Rank: 26, score 40.5 (EU: 54.5)

Project partners (4)