{"id":593,"date":"2014-03-24T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/msr_er\/2014\/03\/24\/inviting-girls-to-dream-big\/"},"modified":"2016-07-20T07:30:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T14:30:21","slug":"inviting-girls-to-dream-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/inviting-girls-to-dream-big\/","title":{"rendered":"Inviting girls to dream big"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>. Every year on this date, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Women’s equality has made positive gains, but plenty of inequality still exists. International Women’s Day commemorates the social, political, and economic achievements of women, while focusing world attention on areas requiring further action. “Inspiring Change” was the theme of the 2014 celebration, and the goal was to encourage advocacy for women’s advancement everywhere in every way. Promoting women’s equality requires courageously challenging the status quo<\/em> and vigilantly inspiring positive change. In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Microsoft profiled the work of five female employees<\/a>—whose efforts are representative of the work of countless other Microsoft women—in empowering girls’ and women’s involvement in science, research, computing, and engineering. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Just two days after International Women’s Day, the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (CSW) kicked off at United Nations Headquarters in New York. CSW is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (ECOSOC). It is the principal global policymaking body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. This year’s CSW theme (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> was access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science, and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. At CSW, I had the privilege of presenting Microsoft’s Big Dream Movement—an exciting new effort to involve more girls in science and technology—on Friday, March 14, during the UN Women Session, “ICT for women’s economic empowerment and poverty alleviation.<\/span>“<\/p>\n

The Big Dream Movement connects organizations, academia, and resources to girls around the world to help them pursue a future in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. The movement is anchored by Big Dream<\/em>, a documentary film that follows the stories of seven young women who are breaking barriers and overcoming personal challenges to follow their passions in STEM fields. From small town Iowa to the bustling streets of the Middle East, Big Dream<\/em> immerses viewers in a world designed by and for the next generation of girls. Our hope is that this inspirational film will excite young women, their families, and friends to the possibilities inherent in science and technology. <\/span><\/p>\n