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In the Egyptian Year of Women, it’s time girls studied IT

Almost 40% of Arab women are unemployed and only 16% study technology, math, engineering or science.
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Ghaithaa Salah had to move to Cairo and start a new life. She signed up for Microsoft YouthSpark program while studying in university and she became a part of the Center for Development and Community Work.

With YouthSpark program, Ghaithaa was able to develop an app to help refugees in Egypt with acquiring information and blending in the society.

Asmaa on the other hand, is now a communication engineer. She designed an app to increase road safety and help in cases of car accidents.

Technological education changed the life of many Egyptian women and the aim is to continue to do so, with upcoming programs like #MakeWhatsNext which is designed to attract more girls to study engineering, math and technology.

These programs by Microsoft in cooperation with The Ministry of Sports and Youth as well as The United Nations’ Development Fund target for the first phase 3000 women from 25 governorates.
Recent studies showed that if the labor market was equally divided between men and women in

The Middle East and Africa, the regional GDP is likely to increase by 47% within the next decade which means an increase of total $600bn.
This while almost 40% of women in the Arab world are employed and only 16% graduate from the fields of engineering, math, technology or science according to the World Economic Forum.

Microsoft along with its partners aim to encourage more and more women to enter the field of technology and then help them with the extra training and financing so that they can start their own business.

Image via: UNDP
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