IT Girls :: Shadowing
Shadowing
The Commission launched a shadowing exercise, working together with some leading companies active in Europe to give young women a taste of what a job in ICT would be like. The idea has been to show them what a typical day would be like, by accompanying or "shadowing" a female role model for a day. Five leading technology companies (BT, Cisco, Infineon, Motorola and Nokia) have taken part in this first pilot exercise together with the European Commission. Commissioner Viviane Reding was shadowed for a day by a young woman during the IST Event in Helsinki last year. The experiences during these six shadowing days have been filmed and the video was presented on International Women's Day 2007.
"With Europe facing a skills shortage in this sector, we must encourage more women to study ICT subjects and to take up a career in this field, so as to increase capacity of the workforce and to tap into women's creative potential."
This section contains more information on shadowing for young women considering ICTs and companies which would like to know more or get involved.
Why shadowing female engineers?
There is lack of skilled staff in the different areas related to the Information and Telecommunication Technologies (ICT). This lack of engineers is more pronounced in the case of women. The shadowing exercise aims to show to young people that working in this area not only relates to different aspects of life but also can give you a satisfying career. In addition it is fun!
How to get involved
Schools
- Speak to your Head Teacher – explain what it is and why you want to do it.
- Identify an ICT related company near your area.
- Ask your teacher to contact the Human Resources person in the company and explain what you want to do.
- Arrange with the company date and participating students.
- Bring the group to company premises.
Companies
- Get in contact with your local school and explain purpose. Ask them to identify suitable candidates.
- Set the date.
- Arrange programme for shadowing (who is being shadowed, what the students can be shown (security and IPR reasons).
- Finalise programme.
- Look after participants when they are in your premises.
Most important: Send us your pictures to put them in the site! (We shall need your permission to do so). Send us a little story of what happened! We shall publish it! This is something we can do together!
REMEMBER: We are here to help. You can contact us at
INFSO-IT-GIRLS@ec.europa.eu
Download the poster for your school (PDF, 29 MB)