Women in Technology to achieve economic gender equalityBy Taylor Luck
AMMAN - A regional initiative working to address gender equality in the workplace launched its Jordan branch on Sunday.
Women in Technology (WIT), which has been working across the region for the last three years, will work with and support Jordanian organisations to empower women to take a greater role in the economy, according to organisers.
“With our partners we hope to help women develop IT and business skills across the Kingdom,” WIT Jordan programme manager Eman Al Tarawneh said in a press conference introducing the organisation yesterday.
In its first year of operation, the initiative will work in four locations in the Kingdom with cooperation from its partners: The Family Guidance and Awareness Centre in Zarqa, the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development in Mafraq, the Mlieh Development Centre in Madaba and the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women in Jabal Taj.
The organisation aims to boost women’s knowledge of IT, digital media, web design, word processing, presentation skills and their understanding of sustainable business development, according to Tarawneh.
In addition, WIT seeks to provide Jordanian women with the needed tools to enter the job market, such as resume writing, effective interviewing and leadership skills.
Tarawneh stressed that the organisation also aims to build networks of professional women in order to provide guidance and support to those entering the workforce.
Through the assistance of Microsoft and Shabakat Al Urdan, the network hopes to train some 400 women across the country by the end of the year, according to organisers.
The US embassy cultural affairs attaché, David Mees, hailed the programme for its success in the region, adding that WIT will “help Jordan overcome any development gap that may exist”.
Microsoft country manager Zeid Shubeilat stressed that “software has no gender bias”, adding that women play an equally important role in innovation and leadership as men.
“Perhaps the next Bill Gates or Google founder may come from the people we train,” he said yesterday.
Since 2005, WIT, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative, has trained over 3,500 women across the region including in Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Yemen and Morocco. The organisation is looking to raise that number to 8,000 by 2009 and by 2010 to aid more than 10,000 trained women entering the workforce.
Women in Technology (WIT), which has been working across the region for the last three years, will work with and support Jordanian organisations to empower women to take a greater role in the economy, according to organisers.
“With our partners we hope to help women develop IT and business skills across the Kingdom,” WIT Jordan programme manager Eman Al Tarawneh said in a press conference introducing the organisation yesterday.
In its first year of operation, the initiative will work in four locations in the Kingdom with cooperation from its partners: The Family Guidance and Awareness Centre in Zarqa, the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development in Mafraq, the Mlieh Development Centre in Madaba and the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women in Jabal Taj.
The organisation aims to boost women’s knowledge of IT, digital media, web design, word processing, presentation skills and their understanding of sustainable business development, according to Tarawneh.
In addition, WIT seeks to provide Jordanian women with the needed tools to enter the job market, such as resume writing, effective interviewing and leadership skills.
Tarawneh stressed that the organisation also aims to build networks of professional women in order to provide guidance and support to those entering the workforce.
Through the assistance of Microsoft and Shabakat Al Urdan, the network hopes to train some 400 women across the country by the end of the year, according to organisers.
The US embassy cultural affairs attaché, David Mees, hailed the programme for its success in the region, adding that WIT will “help Jordan overcome any development gap that may exist”.
Microsoft country manager Zeid Shubeilat stressed that “software has no gender bias”, adding that women play an equally important role in innovation and leadership as men.
“Perhaps the next Bill Gates or Google founder may come from the people we train,” he said yesterday.
Since 2005, WIT, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative, has trained over 3,500 women across the region including in Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Yemen and Morocco. The organisation is looking to raise that number to 8,000 by 2009 and by 2010 to aid more than 10,000 trained women entering the workforce.
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