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It is a marathon task, indeed

Bangalore: This was a “marathon” endeavour — for, by and about women — to encourage them to become engineers or to “stay interested in the field of engineering.”

The “2008 Global Marathon,” a 24-hour online marathon, was held recently to facilitate “a two-way communication process between women who are successful in the field with the beginners in this sector.”

The marathon is an extension of “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.” Now in its fourth year running, the event, aimed at providing information and insight for women worldwide, on careers in engineering and technology, was organised by Engineers’ Week Foundation and Verizon Business, with support from Motorola Foundation and the Bechtel Group Foundation. The Engineers’ Week is a coalition that comprises 75 engineering, professional, and technical societies and 50 corporations and government agencies and is dedicated to “sustaining and growing a dynamic engineering profession” by ensuring a well-educated engineering workforce, a sustained interest in engineering and technology careers among young students, and pre-college literacy in Mathematics and Science.

The 2008 Global Marathon at http://www.eweek.org/ featuring six continuous four-hour blocks of virtual online programming, kicked off in North America and proceeded westward through Mexico and Latin America, China, India, Africa and West Asia, U.K. and Europe before returning to North America for closing ceremonies.

Webcasts, Internet chats and tele-conferences connected the international community of women with expertise in engineering and technology.

“Simply put, the Global Marathon is a two-way communication forum,” said Judy Spitz, senior vice-president and chief information officer at Verizon Business. “Not only does it give young women the opportunity to hear about career opportunities in engineering and technology, it gives women already in those careers a way to share their stories, encourage other women to consider a future in engineering and technology and to create a vision for these young women that they may not yet have for themselves.”

Deepa Singhal, engineering manager, Motorola, said that attracting women into engineering and technology careers and bringing them into leadership positions was a challenge everywhere.

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