10 women behind key technology breakthroughs

By Dr Daiana Beitler March 8, 2016

10 women who have helped transform our world with technology
Beacons for young girls all around the world to learn and draw inspiration from

IT is not an uncommon sight in many technology companies across Asia Pacific – females are largely outnumbered by men, though this of course is a general observation.

This is not helped by the fact that according to the Asian Development Bank (PDF), women in the region are on average 70% less likely than men to be in the labour force.

While computer science continues to prove its importance across industries, women and girls remain significantly underrepresented in both educational settings and in the workforce.

This means a huge portion of the population is missing out on the critical computer skills to further their studies and career, and we also risk missing out on the next disruptive idea or innovation that could improve our world.

Not only is closing the gender gap on the national agenda for many governments across Asia Pacific, the industry has been driving programmes such as TechFemme and DigiGirlz that empower women to step up in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields as well as inspire them to pursue their passions in the field.

On International Women’s Day, we want to put the spotlight on the leading ladies who have helped transform our world with technologies that we now find hard to live without.

Their innovations and designs have more than shaped what defines a technology pioneer – they have become beacons for young girls all around the world to learn and draw inspiration from.

Here is a list of 10 fantastic inspiring females, who have been instrumental in bringing us some of the technology many of us may find it hard to live without today: