The invitation sounded cool. Instead of dull, bureaucratic Brussels, I received a link to a European Commission site entitled IT for Girls , which featured the arresting title "Cyberellas are IT!" accompanied by - get this - rap music.Code of Conduct in order to improve prospects for women to build careers in information technology. This goal resonates with us. Too few women study engineering and computer science and this gap continues to widen in all but a very few European countries. The IT industry as a whole is finding it hard to fill positions and any serious effort to solve the problem means encouraging women to overcome the "geek stereotype." So I agreed to come to Brussels on October 8 and participate in a seminar with European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding.look at our pioneering female engineers at Google. We also sponsor the Anita Borg Scholarship for women undergraduate and graduate students in technology. Named after the late and great female computer scientist Anita Borg, scholarship recipients will each receive a EUR 7,000 award for the 2010-2011 academic year and be invited to attend the Annual Google Scholars' Retreat in our European Engineering Headquarters in Zurich. The British Computer Society recognized Google as a great place to work in 2008 and we are shortlisted again this year, so fingers crossed.
We have just started this journey to help women get online - and there's lots more we can do. I look forward to explaining our Google culture this week in Brussels - and to enjoying a little more of that surprising rap music.
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