Female scientists and engineers must improve digital literacy in the digital transformation era
- WISET hosts a policy forum regarding female scientists and engineers in the digital transformation era
- Director Sunhwa Hahn claims that "countries with many talented women have a high level of digital competitiveness"
□ “The advancements in ICT as well as experiment and observation tools lead to increased collaborative research worldwide.”
□ The Korea Center for Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology (President Hye-yeon Ahn, hereinafter WISET) held an online policy forum with the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (hereinafter KOFST) on the 3rd with the theme “Changes and Opportunities for Female Scientists and Engineers in the Digital Transformation Era.”
○ With the theme “Changes and Opportunities for Female Scientists and Engineers in the Digital Transformation Era,” the forum was held to set the direction for female scientists and engineers and seek strategies using the Digital New Deal project as an opportunity.
□ The keynote speaker, Sunhwa Hahn, a director at the National Research Council of Science & Technology, presented overall opportunities for female scientists and engineers in the rapidly changing digital transformation era and pointed out that digital literacy is essential.
○ “Countries with high scores on the WiD Scoreboard* also have high scores on the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI),” said Hahn. “A country should have more female talent in the digital industry to strengthen its digital competitiveness.“
* Women in Digital Scoreboard
○ According to Hahn, ”the European Union forecasts that if more women were to enter the digital jobs market, it could create an annual €16 billion GDP boost, and focuses on challenging digital gender stereotypes, promoting digital skills and education for women, and advocating for more women entrepreneurs.”
○ “More people working from home due to COVID-19, a focus on data due to ICT development, and a massive collaboration increase will be some good opportunities for female scientists and engineers,” predicted Hahn. “In the digital transformation era, female scientists and engineers are required to have digital literacy.”
□ In the presentation of the theme that followed, Jieun Choi, an associate fellow in the Department of ICT Statistics Research at the Korea Information Society Development Institute, gave a presentation on “The Digital New Deal Policy and Issue Analysis and Counterstrategies for Female Scientists and Engineers.”
○ Choi stated that “once digital transformation is widespread throughout all sectors, the physical constraints on women’s jobs such as time and space will be relaxed, thereby increasing job opportunities for women.”
○ According to Choi, “ICT is one of the industries with a low female employment rate. The ICT industry’s employment rate of the early 20s is 63.9%, which is similar to other industries, but that of the 30s and higher tends to be quite a bit lower than others.”
○ However, she also expressed her expectation that the Digital New Deal policy will increase and boost job opportunities for female scientists and engineers in ICT.
□ A panel discussion followed that was carried out for 40 minutes on the topic “How to Utilize Female Scientists and Engineers in the Digital Transformation Era.” WISET President Hye-yeon Ahn chaired the discussion, and Samsung SDS Senior Managing Director Youngjoo Noh, Elancer CEO Woo Jin Park, Gachon University professor Young Im Cho, and Korea Information Society Development Institute associate fellow Jieun Choi participated as panelists.
○ The panelists discussed △ how to create jobs according to the Digital New Deal policy for female scientists and engineers, △ how to foster female scientists and engineers to be customized for the digital transformation era, and △ prospects and implications for female scientists and engineers in the digital transformation era.
○ Gachon University professor Young Im Cho emphasized the need to acquire technologies for the digital transformation era, stating that “cloud technology, in particular, will be utilized with significance as digital R&D transformation data with the development of AI.” She also stressed the fact that online education in the digital era may cause an education gap, but it may be a solution to the problem as well.
○ “To return to a new field after a career break, it’s important to keep up with the trends by acquiring new technologies such as AI, big data, and python,” said Elancer CEO Woo Jin Park. “In addition to acquiring new technologies, it’s also important to regain confidence by learning how to use them based on experiences and advice from experts.”
○ Samsung SDS Senior Managing Director Youngjoo Noh emphasized the importance of understanding technologies and the industry of ICT as well as the effort needed to grow into a female leader in science and technology. Noh explained the rapidly changing situations of ICT in the digital transformation era and claimed that “female scientists and engineers can secure competitiveness by quickly acquiring specialized skills and technologies in the emerging fields of IT (big data, AI, blockchain, etc.).”
○ “ICT is an industry facing such rapid changes in technology, and thus changes in job competencies are inevitable,” said Korea Information Society Development Institute associate fellow Jieun Choi. “Efforts are also needed to promote gender diversity for sustainable growth of the ICT industry that requires creativity.” She also added that upskilling plans are also critical in improving women’s skills.
□ The policy forum was streamed live online for an hour and a half from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Kakao TV, Naver TV, and the YouTube channel “KOFST.” Not only female scientists and engineers but also other general viewers participated in the policy forum and shared different opinions.
○ Public opinions about work-life balance in the contactless era as well as preparation for the reversal of science and technology and how to enhance competencies were gathered through questions and YouTube comments from online viewers. Experts held in-depth discussions about these opinions and attempted to determine practical solutions.
□ “This policy forum was about considering the roles of female scientists and engineers in the digital transformation era and finding opportunities amidst the changes,” said WISET President Hye-yeon Ahn. “We hope female scientists and engineers will perform their roles as a significant part of science and technology in this era of digital transformation.”
□ This forum was sponsored by the Korea Federation of Women’s Science & Technology Associations, the Association of Korean Woman Scientists and Engineers, Women in Science, Engineering, & Technology in Korea, the Korea IT Business Women's Association, the Woman Information Scientist Association of Korea, and Girls in Tech.
○ The next forum will be held in April 2022 with the theme of issues and strategies for female scientists and engineers in the digital transformation era.