Based on her 26 years of professional experience in the industry and her personal career at the management level at Huawei, Catherine Chen makes a point of alerting to the need for more female leaders, who can and should become examples not only of the strength of women, but also of the unique and innovative power to drive the digital economy. Participating in the already Web Summit, the responsible of Huawei discussed the importance of having female role models to follow and of achieving gender balance in the technology industry:
THE Corporate Senior Vice President and Director of the Board of Huawei, Catherine Chen, spoke today at the 2020 Web Summit Web, where she highlighted the importance of gender balance in building a diverse and digital economy. inclusive, taking the opportunity to underline the importance of education as a key factor in empowering women in the technology industry.
Based on her 26-year professional experience in the industry and her personal career at the management level at Huawei, Catherine Chen insists on raising awareness of the need forand there are more women leaders, who can and should become examples not only of the strength of women, but also of the unique and innovative power to drive the digital economy.
Participating in the already Web Summit, the responsible of Huawei discussed the importance of having female role models to follow and of achieving gender balance in the technology industry:
“Gender equality does not mean that women and men share the same mentalities and behaviors. It is, above all, about having the same opportunities and the same rights that can only come from a more inclusive, diverse and healthy society.”
Catherine Chen also stressed that women represent almost half of the five billion workers among the world’s population, but only about half are part of the market.aboral. Only about 20% to 30% of the workforce in the ICT industry and 7.4% of Fortune Global 500 CEOs are women. “In the digital age, we don’t just need more women represented in the industry, we do need morewomen leaders,” said Chen.
Describing three key success factors to achieve this goal, Huawei’s Corporate Senior Vice President and Director of the Board made a point of highlighting, first, the importance of having supportive policies for women, such as the goals and guidelines outlined in the European Union Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025, also pointing out that Europe has been a pioneer in promoting gender equality.gender. Second, Chen said, women themselves need to reject stereotypes that the tech industry is too insensitive or too difficult for women.
Thirdly, he stressed that education/training in skillsDigital will fundamentally empower women, as “it will provide them with more opportunities and help them gain the basic skills they need to compete in the digital economy”.
As a leading company in the technology industry, Huawei is willing to work with its partners to sow the seeds of the future by promoting education in the field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Through programs such as Huawei ICT Academy (program implemented in Portugal in 2020), or DigiTruck in Kenya and Digital Training Buses in Bangladesh, initiatives that are helping to mitigate the division ofigital all over the world.
“We hope that more bright women will emerge in the tech industry for a more equal, open and diverse future,” concluded Catherine Chen.
