Infopulse supported the National Day of Girls in Technology

26 October 2023 y.

On October 11, 2023, on the International Day of the Girl Child, the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development (CSR Ukraine) as part of the “STEM Girls” initiative held the National Day of Girls in Tech with the assistance of the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. Infopulse became the general partner of the event. The event brought together more than 1,000 participants in online and offline formats from 14 regions of Ukraine, as well as the Czech Republic, the UK and Lithuania. Leading experts, including colleagues from Infopulse, shared their knowledge with girls during master classes and workshops. The initiative included 67 excursions to well-known companies in the fields of high tech, agriculture, pharma, etc. Infopulse invited schoolgirls to visit its office in Lviv, where they met Krystyna Hurieieva, Senior Software Engineer (.NET), who talked about her education, career path, what .net is and what .net developers do. Khrystyna told the girls about the advantages of working in the IT field and shared what she likes most about .net development. The final conference recognized the best projects of the competition, the participants of which included both individual contestants and schools. Among the winners were the project "Demining the Black Sea" by Kovtun Sofiia, and the project "Future health" by a school from the city of Shostka, which suggests cultivating microgreens for practical study of biology, physics, and entrepreneurship, and for bringing in fresh vitamins to the school menu. The results of this day show that 84% of the participants changed their opinion about STEM for the better. 90% of participants got rid of gender bias when thinking about the STEM field. The event helped 60% of the participants to choose a direction for their future career.

"The topic of STEM is special to me and has a personal history. My daughter, who used to be interested in math and computer science, gave it up because of stereotype pressure and doesn't see herself in the field of technology anymore. That is why I feel that it is my duty to make a difference for other girls when it comes to STEM. I am inspired to continue doing this," – Orina Ignatieva, CSR Team leader of the Infopulse company.

Maryna Saprykina, Head of the board at the NGO Center "CSR Development" and the founder of the "STEM Girls" initiative, spoke about the disappointing situation with gender equality. The whole world needs at least 100 years to overcome it. Startups founded by women receive only 3% of all venture capital, which is mostly provided by those companies that are also founded by women.

"Today we are holding an event on the occasion of the Girls in Tech Day under difficult circumstances. Our country is in a state of war. And it is important for us to talk about STEM in the context of reconstruction of Ukraine, because the professions of the future are inextricably linked with science and technology. In order to draw attention to women and girls in this field and to overcome the gender gap, it is necessary to form partnerships, to foster the support of men and to involve them in the women's STEM movement," – maintains Maryna Saprykina.

Infopulse is not going to stop here in supporting girls in the STEM field. The company is gaining momentum in this area, because it believes that attracting more talented female specialists to the field of technology is an important development driver for this industry.