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Google celebrates International Women’s Day with a Doodle and much more

Lulu Chang
By

Women Techmakers Mountain View Summit 2017
Wednesday is International Women’s Day and Google wants to make sure you know it. Wednesday’s Google Doodles celebrates the phenomenal individuals who have contributed to the progress of the world. Google says that it’s also “supporting efforts to close the gender gap in tech and other fields” as it pays homage to women in the month of March (Women’s History Month).

The Doodle in honor of International Women’s Day is a unique interactive slideshow, which follows a young girl who embarks upon an imaginary journey that brings her to 13 remarkable women from women across the world throughout history. “From a pilot in Egypt to a dancer in India, these women may not all be household names, but they’ve all made a unique mark on the world,” Google noted. “In fact, all of them have been celebrated in a Doodle in the past, but often only in their countries of origin. Today, we’re sharing their stories worldwide.”

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In addition to the Doodle, Google is also highlighting the achievements of these women by way of a new Spotlight Story in Google Arts & Culture. And that is not the only 360-degree experience you can have. Thanks to Expeditions, you will be able to check out 40 new virtual field trips that explore the careers, adventures, and contributions of women.

Google-owned YouTube is also curating playlists, like “Super Women of Our Past,” “Celebrate Women’s History Month,” and “Celebrate International Women’s Day” to draw further attention to this day and this month. Google has also partnered with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering to create a machine learning-based tool that examines how often women are seen and heard on screen. They found that in Oscar-winning films, women comprise just 32 percent of screen time and 27 percent of speaking time. “Over time, we hope this project can help raise awareness of the “missing women” in media, encourage filmmakers to include a broader range of characters, and introduce young people to more diverse role models,” Google said.

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