Girls in ICT and political leadership roles

While most Sri Lankan politicians and the people are focused on elections—what elections and when or whether they will be held—it is more important to give attention and priority to issues such as gender equality. It is especially important to focus on the role of women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the upcoming technological revolution that could manifest through areas like artificial intelligence. 
Today, the United Nations marks the International Girls in ICT Day with the theme being “Leadership” to underscore the critical need for strong female role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

According to the UN, although women now fill 40% of high-skill occupations globally, their participation in ICT-related fields continues to be low. Women are nearly absent from software development, engineering, technology research, academia, as well as at the highest levels of policy making. They also tend to leave science and technology jobs at higher rates
than men.
While there is a leadership gender gap in every industry, the largest gaps are found in the STEM fields. Women in ICT often find themselves in junior or support roles rather than in managerial roles, with little opportunity for advancement. They are also less likely to hold an executive position, become ICT entrepreneurs, or be represented among science and technology policymakers.
The UN says, to thrive in STEM, girls and young women must be exposed to women in leadership positions, fostering inspiration and breaking down barriers that hinder their progress. The Girls in ICT Day 2024 theme aims to address these challenges, encouraging empowerment and leadership development for a more equitable future in STEM.
In this backdrop, media has reported that a Sri Lankan postdoctoral research scientist, Piyumi Wijesekara, is among the new crew of four volunteers selected by National Aeronautical and Space Agency (NASA) of the United States to participate in a simulated mission to Mars within a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center
in Houston.
NASA stated that Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi and Piyumi Wijesekara would step into the agency’s Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, on Friday, May 10. Once inside, the team will live and work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will exit the facility on June 24 after they “return” to Earth. 
Crew members will carry out scientific research and operational tasks throughout their simulated mission to the Red Planet, including a “walk” on Mars’ surface using virtual reality. They will also experience increasing communication delays lasting up to five minutes each way with the Mission Control Center as they “near” Mars. 
This crew is the second group of volunteers to participate in a simulated Mars mission in HERA
this year. 
According to reports, Wijesekara is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Her research focuses on developing tissue models to investigate the effects of spaceflight stressors, including ionising radiation and lunar dust on the human respiratory system.
Wijesekara earned her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, and her master’s and doctorate degrees in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her doctoral research focused on stem cell and organ engineering, with an emphasis on engineering lung models that mimic human lung physiology, to study respiratory diseases.

Wijesekara now lives in San Francisco. 
Sri Lanka had the world distinction producing the world’s first Executive women Prime Minister who led the country to high levels of development in various areas. But power corrupts. When she aligned the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in 1963, there were moves to take over the free press which lead to her government’s downfall in a political masterstroke believed to have been mainly orchestrated by press tycoon, Esmond Wickremesinghe. Bandaranaike was swept back to power in the 1970 General Election and the greatest achievement was the adoption of a new Constitution which turned Ceylon into the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. She also had the honour of presiding over a Colombo meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement attended by leaders of 75 countries. Later, her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became one of the world’s most powerful executive Presidents; but, despite her achievements, Sri Lanka has huge gender gaps which need to be filled soon for the sustainable development of the country.