 In the 21st century, information and communication technologies, or ICTs, have continuously revolutionized our society, providing connections and interactions at speeds never before dreamed of. While the effects of the ICT boom have made a tremendously positive impact on development, one major group has been largely barred from enjoying their benefits, women. There are more opportunities in this field than any other sector, and therefore we want to make sure that girls and women are equal to men and exercising their roles in the information and communication technology sector. We have seen that less and less girls are taking up careers in the information and communication technology field, and we believe that they should be encouraged to take up careers in this field because there's many avenues for opportunity. The International Telecommunications Union celebrated Girls and ICT Day on Thursday by hosting an event where experts in the field of telecommunications, mostly women, spoke about their roads to success. These women encouraged more girls to get involved with technology at a young age and urged them not to be discouraged by challenges that they face in cracking into this almost homogenously male field. These technologies have an incredible capacity to improve each and every one of our lives, no matter what our core competencies are, no matter where we are, no matter what we do. This has worked for women and girls as much as it is for men and boys. Despite the remarkable durability of tech jobs in the face of financial uncertainty, women continue to be woefully underrepresented in the field. They hold only 15% of technology management jobs and just 11% of strategy and planning positions. Even more troublingly, women's participation in the field could be on the decline. 37% of computer science degrees in the 1980s went to women. Today that number is below 20%. Balancing these numbers and getting at or close to parity with men will result into stronger, healthier societies for both sexes. Women are not participating in this great new technology as much as they should. Even though in many countries today girls go to school more, they go to university more, they're better students than boys, they don't necessarily go into technical and engineering and scientific fields. To change these unsavory statistics, the ideas discussed at this meeting will have to be played out in the real world. One is why Hamadun Turay, the Secretary General of ITU, announced the launching of a new program that will help girls get involved with new technologies called Tech for Girls. We are actively seeking partners to come forward and make the Tech Needs Girls campaign a success, not just a campaign, but as a way of making the world a better place. On a day filled with inspiring stories and striking moments, the highlight came in the form of a presentation by Joanne O'Reardon, a young girl who, due to an exceedingly rare ailment called Total Amelia Syndrome, was born without limbs. Joanne shared her story and her optimism and serves as living proof of the incredible power of technology to improve lives. My aim is for girls that are like the same age as me and who have the same problem as maybe storaging or anything else, so maybe they could turn to the same software that I use and hopefully track that down and figure out a way that it can work for everyone. For girls like Joanne, technology holds the promise of a better life and a better future. The launch of ITU's Tech Needs Girls campaign is a reminder of this fact and of the transformative power of information and communication technologies. Reporting from New York, I'm Connor Sheratz for SouthSouth News.