Brief on African Women in Tech

Imagine women with resources that maximize farm yield and income while raising the workload and time needed to ensure food security and promote economic empowerment. Imagine an Africa that, thanks to the technologies now available, will leverage the liberated time and energy, kindness and smartness of millions of women. Together in coalition, we are in a privileged position to catalyze the transition.

Studies show that women in the tech industry make up just 28 percent of industry professionals globally and only 30 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa; Such UNESCO figures illustrate the vast gap between men and women in the pursuit of professions in science, technology, engineering, and math, collectively known as STEM.

In an effort to build a more gender-balanced environment in which women are given the same incentives and tools to excel as their male counterparts, the workshop deliberations and discussions collected detailed information on women’s experiences in the tech sector and their feedback on places that need help and action. It is important to emphasize the need for a balanced support system linking not only women in tech but also a broader global network of ‘ Women in STEM; ‘ as well as the need for more mentoring and networking capacities.

Top 10 Women in Tech Programmes Around the world

When you’re a woman in a male-dominated business searching for fulfillment and prosperity, it’s easy to feel like you’re not part of it. Despite women holding only about 20 percent of tech jobs and 25 percent of its leadership positions, we have a long way to go until we have gender parity and make women feel at ease in a field that’s also very much theirs.

Below are the top 10 programs for women who have chosen the STEM career paths;

1. African Women in Tech (AWIT); The event series of the African Women in Technology program, a product of IBOM LLC, was born out of a desire to connect, educate and empower women determined to advance their tech careers. We’re dedicated to providing women with opportunities to grow and lead in tech space and a safe space.
2. Black Girls Code: The vision of this program is to increase the number of colors in the digital space.
3. Rails Girls: the program was founded in Finland and has now blossomed into a global not – for- profit community
4. Built by Girls: This is one of the organizations leading the way past simply teaching girls to code.
5. Womanity: This is an also a not – for profit organization that was set up to women and girls in developing countries.
6. Girls who Code: This is a US based program and has taught to date over 40,000 girls how to code.
7. Girl Develop IT (GDI): This is a program that began with one class offered in New York City in 2010 and has since then blossomed into an organization with chapters in over 56 cities of the United States.
8. Org: This is a unique program that is dedicated to expanding access to computer science to underrepresented populations and girls. They also provide some additional professional learning programs for teachers to integrate CS into their classrooms.
9. Barcelona Women’s Network: This program was established to foster friendship and understanding between women of various nationalities living in Barcelona.
10. FemDevs: This is a program that is set up to fight for gender parity in the tech industry by promoting the participation of women in video game development.

Eligibility

For these programs, the only criterion is that you have to be of the female gender to participate. Some of which require registration fees as they are not free. Some factors o consider and look out for when participating are;

• Age: some of these programs require women of certain age group
• Career Choice: These programs obviously are for women and girls who have chosen the STEM path.
• Location: Some programs require women from certain backgrounds and locations.
• Educational Qualification: Some programs require women who have attained some level o educational qualification to participate.
• Registration Fee: Some programs will require a certain amount before you can participate.

Value

Why does it matter for women to under-represented in the Tech world? Research shows that different teams are performing better. Individuals with different backgrounds, ages, races and perceptions bring different viewpoints that can contribute to innovative solutions.

Literature examining the influence of women in the workplace— especially women working in teams and in leadership roles — shows the need and effect of having more women in technology. Greater technical gender diversity will affect the bottom lines of companies, as Morgan Stanley’s analysis has found out.

In conclusion, we recognize some of the reasons why women and girls perform at lower rates in STEM fields: lack of resources, aggressive discouragement, and lack of role models, hostile peer pressure and abuse. Studies show this is not a matter of capacity. People from under-represented communities experience twice as much discrimination against both their gender and race. Girls are still fighting in some developing world countries for adequate access to education, and then entry into the workforce. Several projects, despite mixed results, have tried to rectify the situation. So what is it that works? What is it that triggers optimism?