Within the framework of the Women in Digital Forum, TWG5 focuses on the systemic conditions that shape girls’ educational and career choices at the earliest stages of the digital pipeline, before entry into VET or ICT pathways.

TWG5 is grounded in a clear analytical premise: the underrepresentation of women in digital careers is not primarily a matter of individual preference or capability, but a consequence of how education systems, career guidance structures, and surrounding ecosystems are designed. While girls frequently achieve strong results in STEM subjects, this performance does not translate into proportional engagement with digital pathways. The group examines the structural factors behind this gap — from fragmented and gender-unaware career guidance, to learning environments that unintentionally reinforce stereotypes, to the limited visibility of digital careers and the uneven access to the networks and ecosystems that increasingly shape career entry.

 

TWG5 adopts a system-level perspective and structures its work around three pillars. The first focuses on transforming career guidance into a professionalised, continuous, and bias-aware function embedded within education systems. The second addresses the redesign of learning environments to foster confidence, belonging, and identification with digital fields among girls. The third focuses on how education systems can establish structured links with external digital ecosystems and opportunity networks, drawing on country-level focus groups and translating findings into replicable models and an EU-level synthesis.

Special attention is given to girls from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds, including those with limited access to role models, guidance, or support networks, and those affected by socio-economic, cultural, or geographical constraints. The work targets primary and secondary education as the critical stages where disengagement most often occurs, and where systemic intervention can have the greatest long-term impact on women’s participation in the digital economy.