EU – Baltic States, Forum, Lithuania, Technology, Women leaders

Photo: lrp.lt

With more than 308 thousand followers on Facebook, the President was introduced at the event as one of the world’s most popular women leaders active on social networks. Dalia Grybauskaite, who is Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, was a special guest in this discussion.

Addressing more than 160 global business and media representatives as well as NGO members, the President emphasized that information technologies and social networks enabled every person to become part of world events and opened up more opportunities to engage in politics and social life.

“New technologies and social networks give every person more freedom and space to act, enabling them to maintain closer contacts, to hear other people and to better meet their expectations. And this costs nothing. What you need is willingness, commitment and openness,” the President said.

However, the President noted, for advanced technologies to really accelerate the participation of women in politics, it is necessary to ensure that these technologies are equally accessible to all. Therefore, it is essential to develop information skills from an early age.

Lithuania is a leader in Europe not only in terms of the number of educated women – 95% of Lithuanian women have secondary or high education – but also in terms of developing computer literacy. Nearly 97% of Lithuanian school students have IT skills, which is the best indicator in the EU. In Davos, Dalia Grybauskaite presented Lithuania’s experience in promoting the development of modern technologies and information literacy.

The Women and Technology Initiative implemented in Lithuania introduces women to job opportunities in the IT sector and encourages a more active women’s role in the development of technologies.

The informatics contest Bebras, which introduces primary school students to computer science and develops children’s computer skills, was launched in Lithuania more than a decade ago. Soon the initiative received global recognition and now it involves about 50 countries. Last year, 1.5 million children participated in the contest, almost half of them girls. The President pointed out that this was a unique example of how simple initiatives could contribute to building a more advanced world.

Lithuania is also an EU leader in terms of access to ultra-high-speed fiber optic internet. It also has the fastest public Wi-Fi in the world.