Miami, March 8, 2022 - On the occasion of International Women's Day, Mastercard is organized a virtual technology education marathon in which girls from 17 countries throughout the region will participate through allied schools and institutions.

Since 2014, Mastercard's Girls4Tech™ program has trained more than 1 million girls between the ages of 8 and 16 in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills, an area of ​​knowledge that has historically excluded women. However, the results of the 2021 Mastercard Women Entrepreneurs Index reflect strong progress in empowering women from emerging economies, which is consistent with their vocation to make a difference in their family, their community and the world.

"For Mastercard, supporting girls to develop their STEM skills is the most direct path to achieving the goal of closing the gender gap in jobs in the STEM areas, which to date only 30% are held by women." Kiki del Valle commented executive vice president of market development for Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean. "Promoting the participation of women in these areas is a reflection of our commitment to building a more equitable society."

Girls4Tech™ in numbers:

• Since its launch in 2014, Mastercard's Girls4Tech™ program has trained more than 2 million girls ages 8 to 16 worldwide and has a goal of reaching 5 million girls by 2025.
• Girls4Tech™ has organized events in more than 44 countries around the world and 17 in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
• The curriculum has been translated into more than 19 languages.
• Topics include cryptology, fraud detection, data science, artificial intelligence, and coding.

Empowering women to take their rightful place is a way to boost society in general, because the sustainable and inclusive recovery of the post-COVID economy depends on it. According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, it is an indispensable tool to analyze the courses of action that address the challenges that women in business still face, and programs like Girls4Tech are a shortcut, because they offer today's girls the opportunity to discover their talent and develop the potential that will make them the women of tomorrow.