Every year on the fourth Thursday of April, the world marks International Girls in ICT Day, a day that does more than highlight the gender gap in tech, but calls for a reimagining of what power, possibility, and progress look like for girls and women globally. For Zeda, a platform built to amplify bold voices and center authentic African women’s stories, this day isn’t just a calendar note, it’s a reminder of the digital future we must claim, shape, and protect.
Established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2011, International Girls in ICT Day was born from the stark realization that women were being left behind in one of the most powerful arenas of modern life, technology. What began as an initiative to encourage girls to explore careers in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has grown into a global movement that spans over 170 countries and has reached more than 500,000 girls.
At its heart, the day pushes back against harmful stereotypes, limited access, and systemic barriers. It’s not just about coding camps and hackathons. It’s about access to knowledge, digital tools, and the confidence to lead.Africa is young. Our continent has the world’s fastest-growing youth population, and with it, an unmatched potential to lead in tech innovation. But despite this, African girls are often locked out of the digital revolution due to a mix of gender bias, cultural norms, lack of infrastructure, and poor investment in STEM education for girls.
Girls in ICT Day is a day to spotlight this inequity, but also to celebrate the girls and women who are breaking barriers: building apps in Kibera, leading robotics teams in Accra, founding startups in Kigali, coding climate solutions in Nairobi. They exist. They’re thriving. They just need more of us to see and invest in them.
At Zeda, we believe in storytelling that transforms. That means not only highlighting women in media, art, and culture, but also in science, tech, and innovation. Girls in ICT Day reminds us that the fight for equality isn’t just in boardrooms or parliaments, it’s on servers, in codebases, and within algorithms that can either erase or empower us.We’re committed to telling these stories.
We don’t just want to mark the day. We want to move the needle. That means supporting policies that bridge the digital gender divide. It means building communities where girls feel they belong in tech. It means calling out digital sexism, celebrating Afro-feminist coders, and investing in girl-led tech ventures.
Know a girl or woman breaking ground in ICT? Share her story with us and let’s celebrate her together.
