As I travel around the world working on Smart Communities and utilities, it is inspiring to see the growth of the number of women doing great things in the industry and in their communities. When I first joined the utility industry, it was 90% men or so it seemed. However, the empowerment of women within utilities and their advancement in technology companies, as well as early focus on girls in STEM is going a long way toward the of equality between women and men in many places. Of course, there is still a long way to go.
The way to strengthen all communities is through empowering women. Companies, educational institutions, and governments need to continue to focus on women as key drivers of innovation, GDP growth, and jobs. We need to create more ways to share knowledge, experiences, lessons learned, and good practices in the key areas.
Smart cities and communities means driving economic growth and improve the quality of life of ALL people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to a smarter future: equal pay for equal work, opportunities for women in previously unopened places, investing in work-life balance, childcare, and educational tools.
Women have innate abilities to communicate, to find innovative solutions to highly technical challenges, and to support growth of their communities. Let's continue the fight and bring more girls and young women into the industry, and let's empower and promote the women already working in utilities and smart industries. The future is up to us.
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