When Suchada Hnoonpakdee’s mother moved from her home in northeast Thailand to the capital city of Bangkok, she bore a weight that no child should have on their shoulders: at the tender age of 13, the fourth child of her family, she took on different odd jobs to send money back home.
“As a little girl, she was feeding her whole family of nine children,” explains Suchada. Sitting in a tiny alcove at the United Nations Conference Centre, she had just addressed over 600 diplomats, private sector partners and young changemakers on “AI Innovations for Gender Equality” at the Asia-Pacific Regional Commemoration of International Women’s Day 2025 organized by ESCAP and UN Women
Suchada lights up as she talks about her mother, but there is a hint of sadness in her eyes. Her mother never completed her formal schooling, but despite facing unimaginable hardships, she prioritized education above all else for her daughters.
“I'm the first graduate in my family. I chose software engineering because at the time, not only did I think it would be an empowering tool, but because of the availability of full scholarships,” she says.
Defying the ‘leaky pipeline’
Women continue to hold less than 25 per cent of science, engineering and information and communications technology (ICT) jobs globally. In Asia and the Pacific, only eight out of 20 countries report a female STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workforce above 40 per cent, according to a United Nations Development Programme study.
Imagine a pipe carrying water but somewhere along the way, leaks cause some of the water to escape before reaching the end. This is the “leaky pipeline” effect where many women and underrepresented groups leave STEM fields at different stages of their careers. These leaks can result from a range of systemic barriers like bias, lack of support or workplace challenges, preventing their full participation and advancement
As a software engineer and social impact entrepreneur, Suchada is on a journey to traversing these challenges: “I like programming. I like technological innovations. It allows me to make things possible.
“Whatever ideas you have, you can code and make it a reality. And that's what I find so empowering. You can be anyone behind a screen, but with this ability to code and program, you can do so much.”
