International Women’s Day marked by Google with Doodle of international women

8 Mar 2013

Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day, and Google has created a suitably female-oriented, global-minded Doodle for the occasion. The beautiful illustration depicts the unique and varied faces of the women of the world, subtly outlining the letters of the search giant’s famous logo on its homepage.

International Women’s Day, or IWD if you’re short on space, is a day to celebrate women and their contribution to all facets of society, but also to heighten awareness of the struggles some women still face worldwide.

A range of events have been organised across Ireland for IWD 2013, some looking back at the influence of women in times past, some looking forward to what a powerful force they can be in times to come.

The UN’s theme for IWD 2013 is ‘A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women’, while the International Women’s Day website is running with the theme of ‘The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum’.

It’s the latter theme that is in fitting with Silicon Republic’s own plans for IWD 2013, which includes the launch of our Women Invent Tomorrow campaign. This year-long initiative will serve to highlight the importance of closing the gender gap in STEM-based industries while also championing the female role models that already exist in these sectors.

Like the faces in today’s Doodle, the great women working in STEM are all too often occupying the negative space behind the technology; often overlooked, but unmistakable once brought to the fore.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republics year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science,technology, engineering and maths

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com