Ana Luísa Respício, Ana Paula Afonso, Cátia Pesquita, and Teresa Chambel, LASIGE integrated members, were invited to write an opinion piece in the newspaper SAPO.pt on 24 April 2025, on gender balance in the technology sector, celebrating the Girls in ICT Day and entitled ‘Young women in ICT are an opportunity for growth’.

Some young women, even if they choose to study in the area, find it difficult to feel integrated and supported at the start of their career, and end up giving up on building a career. This ends up further increasing the gender disproportion in the sector, despite the advantages associated with diversity in ICT work teams, and women are still under-represented in this male-dominated sector.

Although some companies and organizations promote activities where women can develop technological and entrepreneurial projects that can contribute to the common good (e.g. Microsoft, Technovation Girls, etc.), the disparity in the ICT sector is still evident and, at the rate at which this disparity has been reducing, it would take 67 years to eliminate it in Europe alone (according to the international organization Women Tech).

Reducing this gender gap in ICT is one of the European Union’s objectives, as a measure to boost progress in society and economic growth. In recent years, Portugal has seen an increase, albeit moderate, in female representation in this area in higher education but we can all contribute to this change and to the progress of society.

The full article can be read (in Portuguese) here.