Beijing Women's Federation

To further improve the sci-tech literacy of girls, Beijing Women's Federation (BWF) has fully leveraged high-quality domestic and international resources to hold the Beijing Action "Empowering Girls with Science, Technology" for four consecutive years, which is an integral part of the Women's Action for Scientific and Technological Innovation: Beijing Action in the cultivation of women technological workers.

The 2024 action has been held by BWF in collaboration with the Beijing Association for Science and Technology and has been undertaken by the Beijing Women's International Center and the Beijing Science Center. Themed "Girls AI Future," the event has closely followed the latest development of the artificial intelligence sector, which is a driving force of a new round of industrial transformation, organized activities featuring the improvement of girls' sci-tech literacy, the visit of women technological workers to campus and the exhibition of sci-tech creations, helped girls grasp a deep understanding of frontier technologies, and further bolstered their sci-tech enthusiasm and determination.

'Her Sci-tech Literacy:' Getting Familiar with AI via Immersive Engagement

Immersive engagement is the best way to appreciate the charm of science and technology. In 2024, the action has held camp activities on improving girls' sci-tech literacy, which involved AI science-popularization courses and visits to major university-based laboratories. It was intended to get girls' perception capabilities motivated, and strengthen their capacity building in practical fields and team collaboration through the integration between scientific knowledge and social practices.

Girls also have received videos of blessings from women officials of Asian and African countries, who were in China to attend capacity-building training programs. They talked about difficulties and challenges confronted with girls in their own countries in gaining AI knowledge, and encouraged Chinese girls to seize all possible opportunities to acquire AI and other cutting-edge technologies.

During the simulation of unmanned driving, girls have worked in groups to assemble intelligent toy cars and used such methods as sensors and algorithms to collect information in the completion of target exploration, gaining a deep understanding of the AI sector.

"Together with my teammates, I have completed the making and competition of intelligent toy car. Additionally, I have personally operated it. It was a great experience. I believe that I will acquire more sci-tech knowledge in the future," said Zang Ruoxi, a student from Hongying Primary School in Haidian District. "I hope that AI technology will fundamentally change our world, keep people from dangerous jobs, help us explore crude oil and mineral resources, and make us smarter and stronger," said Wang Ruoyi from Xiyuan Primary School in Haidian District.

The 2024 action has also invited schooling girls and their families to visit the Beijing Science Center, brought the "Mobile Sci-tech Museum" project to relevant schools, and held interactive exhibitions on campus.

'Her Sci-tech Role Models:' Leading Girls on the Way to AI

The face-to-face exchanges with women technological workers have left a deep impression on attending girls and further increased their sci-tech enthusiasm. During their visit to campus, women technological workers on the AI frontlines have introduced to students about the history and limitless potentials of the AI sector in an interesting and understandable language, talked about happiness from the exploration of the unknown world and the perseverance in bringing difficulties under control on the sci-tech research journey, and asked schooling girls to uncover scientific truth and forge inner motivation in dedicating oneself to science and technology.

During her visit to Beifang Middle School in Fangshan District, Li Dongni, a professor, doctoral supervisor and deputy dean of the School of Computer at Beijing Institute of Technology, lectured students there about the research of the world's first artificial neural network model in 1943, the emergence of the AI concept, and fast development of newly emerging technologies such as algorithm, big data and in-depth learning.

Zhang Man, deputy dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, specially-invited researcher and doctoral supervisor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, related the theories of computer vision and robot motion generation to explain the latest development of the AI sector with pupils in Hongying Primary School.

Zhao Xiaoguang, a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Automation in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, talked with pupils in Xiyuan Primary School about the utilization of AI in android, intelligent manufacturing, hotel and restaurant management, health and medicare industries.

'Her Technological Innovation:' Creative Application of AI

To inspire girls to embrace the AI sector, the 2024 action has set up a special section during local primary and middle school science festivals, showcasing the innovative thinking and practical capabilities of girls in AI applications.

The display of intelligent Rubik's cube robot, which is equipped with such technologies as pattern recognition, the AI, autonomous control and mechanical design, has provided the public with an access to learn about the development of robot technology. The intelligent vision-protection device, which is made of ultrasonic sensors, can be widely applied in classrooms, homes, offices and other scenarios. There was also an intelligent chalkboard eraser designed and programmed with Python language. These works have brought lots of surprise, reflecting the acute insight and strong sense of responsibility among girls towards life.

Two girls recommended by the 2024 action showcased their sci-tech innovative practices at the China Final of the "She Loves Tech" 2024 Global Startup Competition. They received high praise from judges and women entrepreneurs for their capabilities and vitality in detecting problems and exploring the unknown world and for their devotion to the realization of personal sci-tech dream. Many girls said that they learned more about the difficulties behind the commercialization of research results and they would continue improving personal knowledge structure and competence after participating in sci-tech entrepreneurial contests as audience.

'Her Technological Vision:' Empowering Future Development

The year 2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Government of each country has reviewed and summed up the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action. The thematic action of the BWF has been written into China's comprehensive appraisal report on its implementation of the two guiding documents.

The 2024 action has invited experts and scholars of women-related sectors, youth science-popularization representatives and those of foreign-related sci-tech agencies to talk about the routes and strategies for empowering girls with science and technology.

Representatives from Beijing Women's International Center and Beijing Science Center gave an introduction to their experience, challenges and setbacks in the organization of relevant projects over the past four years. Lin Danyan, deputy director of the Information Center in the Women's Studies Institute of China, explained the status quo of global women's cause and the education of girls and called for efforts to strengthen family-school-society collaboration work and conduct comparative studies over relevant programs. Sun Lijie, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the China Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation, asked for more opportunities for girls to attend international sci-tech conferences and visit sci-tech institutes. Zhang Yi, director of the Beijing Youth Innovation Institute, stressed the utilization of various means both in and beyond class and campus in the cultivation of sci-tech capabilities among youths and underscored the importance of the building of science-popularization practice venues for girls. Zhao Xiaoguang related personal science-popularization experience to encourage girls to visit State-level laboratories and research projects and explore cutting-edge technologies.

The 2024 thematic action has received the support of the Beijing Youth Innovation Institute, the Beijing Women's Association for Science and Technology, the Capital Female Professors' Association, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and the IEEE Women in Engineering's Beijing Affinity Group.