In 2005, in Tunis, the United Nations hosted a conference, which aimed to bridge the ‘digital divide’ that separates rich and poor countries. This conference was called the World Summit on the Information Society. Following from this conference May 17^thwas proclaimed as the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day.

The main aim of this day is to raise awareness of changes brought about by technology, specifically the Internet.

This year’s theme for Information Society Day is Women and Girls in Information and Communication Technology… The International Telecommunications Union says on their website, that “ICTs are tools that can help accelerate progress towards achieving (gender equality), and it is for this reason that ITU Council proposed that we focus our efforts this year on women and girls, using the power of ICTs to provide new digital opportunities to end discrimination and empower the female half of the world’s population to achieve their rightful place as equals in the world.”

Read more about the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day and the work of the International Telecommunications Union here. 

 

Also in May:

World No-Tobacco Day – May 31st

International Day for UN Peacekeepers – May 29th

Africa Day – May 25th

The Day of Cyrillic Alphabet – May 24th

International Day for Biological Diversity – May 22nd

Cultural Diversity Day – May 21st

Cultural Diversity Day: A Special ‘Hello!’

World Day Against Homophobia – May 17th

Mastering the Art of Cheek Kissing

International Day of Families – May 15th

World Fair Trade Day – May 12th

Red Cross Crescent Day – May 8th

Europe Day – May 9th

Wesak – May 5th

World Press Freedom Day – May 3rd

May Day – May 1st

Tags: information societ, telecommunications, women and girls in IT

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2012 at 9:00 am and is filed under days of significance, General . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.