I received an email yesterday that left me stunned.
"National Electronics Week" is a show now on at Earl’s Court.
"We urge everyone to come along to the event, celebrate our world class capabilities and put the UK electronics industry back on the map," added Simon Payne. "The event is far more than a showcase of
products and services, it is a major networking opportunity, a place to interact face-to-face and cross-fertilise with peers in the industry."
The XJTAG girls – follow the link below to download a high resolution image – will be welcoming visitors to this inaugural event. The XJTAG team will be on stand C61.
Photo caption: XJTAG’s international models Gemma Massey and Laurena Lacey will be welcoming visitors to National Electronics Week at Earls Court (17-19 June).
For more information about visiting National Electronics Week, visit www.nationalelectronicsweek.co.uk. Information about XJTAG.
Well…. I’m speechless
Why the relevance of hard hats to the electronics industry? (note to the Advertising agency concerned perhaps?) – and the footwear doesn’t exactly comply with the Health and Safety executive requirements either.
I honestly don’t think that this should be portrayed as a suitable image for 21st Century organisations where the proportion of young women following STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines is reducing year on year and the challenge of getting young girls to take these career options is getting harder. All of us who work in the Technology (and Science) industry, have a responsibility to encourage the next generation of young people into taking up IT, science and maths careers – and not promoting marketing images like this that seems to put the industry back years and years.
Fortunately someone has seen sense and the image above has been taken down from the site but obviously we’ve got a long, long way to go here. I’m just amazed that in these enlightened times when we’re all too aware of the dearth of females in IT and technology this sort of perception is still propagated out there…
Thanks to Jan from the BCS for forwarding the mail.
