Ebru Ozdemir, Chairman of the Board of Limak Holding and Chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Engineering and Construction Industry Group, said investing in women’s employment is the most effective way to build a resilient, inclusive and future-proof economy.In an article written ahead of the annual Davos summit, Ozdemir stressed that reskilling and upskilling programs must be gender-focused to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital economy. According to news agency ANI, she also underlined the need to integrate more women into STEM professions to secure the human capital needed to tackle planetary-scale challenges.“Without gender equity in STEM, we cannot achieve a sustainable economy. “Putting women at the forefront of engineering and technology is the most important investment we can make for growth and resilience,” they wrote in the article.Women in STEM important for global challengesIn her article titled ‘From digital divide to investment dividend: Why women are the key to a future-proof workforce’, Ozdemir argued that investing in women and girls should be seen not as a social expenditure but as a capital expenditure with the highest returns for a resilient and inclusive economy. “The basic truth remains: investing in women is investing in humanity’s most underutilized economic engine,” she wrote, according to ANI.She said investing in the skills of women engineers is not just about social justice, but is the most direct way to secure the specialized human capital needed to solve trillion-dollar global problems.“This way we ensure that our infrastructure investments are not just built, but built sustainably and inclusively,” he said.The World Economic Forum will hold its 56th annual meeting in Davos from January 19 to January 23, 2026. The meeting will bring together nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries on the theme “The Spirit of Dialogue” amid rising geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and rapid technological change.
