ICT Clinic
Encouraging more women in technology
Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr.
Have you ever considered girls, who grew up, not knowing any women, who worked, in supposedly "male-dominated" professions? What effect might a lack of visible female leadership in these different professions have on the expectations that our girls, (and boys), set for the society they are growing up in?
How about the degree to which they police and silence any of their own intellectual curiosities that defy traditional gender roles? Who loses when our youths are not allowed and encouraged to pursue their innate passions?
In the field of technology, a sector, with the potentials to multiply opportunities for all, but conversely, with a serious gender problem, these questions are quite germane. Fortunately, here in Nigeria, efforts are being made by a couple of organisations to answer the gaps in talent and the hindrance of our collective imagination about what is possible for women.
Recently, I stumbled on the activities of a not-for-profit organisation called African Women on Board, and one area that caught my attention is their focus on helping more young people, particularly girls, to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It is encouraging to have learnt that earlier in the year, AWB, teamed up with the Heartland Incubation Hub of the Oluaka Institute, a government-certified computer and technical training institution, based in Owerri, to support training programmes for young women and girls, age 5 and upwards, in areas of 2D gaming, animation, web pages and computer applications. This is indeed a welcome development and such initiatives ought to be supported.
The key benefit of programmes such as this is that it helps young people to build stuff by themselves and this is in turn creates a personal feeling that will help them truly believe in themselves. This is the joy that comes with the process of development, conceiving an idea, writing a few lines of code and then seeing it comes to life is simply phenomenal. AWB is clear on its mission and to ensure it continues on the track of impact, it has partnered with Imaginarium Creative, a concept design and creative studio that will assist in the recruitment of young women, particularly graduates and undergraduates to receive training in 2D and 3D animation.
Speaking on the partnership, Nkiru Balonwu, is of the opinion that what girls need at this point is simply the push and encouragement required for them to decide to take up tech-based roles.
"While many are locked out of education, many others are locked out of career opportunities because of years of stereotype and cultural conditioning. Through this gender-sensitive approach, we can push the lid and get as many women as possible into software-based training", she added.
The benefit of technology and innovation is; and has always been the democratised launching pad that it offers to our ideas, regardless of one's background, or circumstances. With countless study after study, showing the incredible economic losses of excluding women and girls from various sectors of society, the business case could not be clearer. As we live in a world where half the population is female, it becomes increasingly inexcusable for this global metric not to be reflected from the halls of power, down to the ground level.
AWB believes that, addressing the gaps in tech talent and the absence of stories, about influential African female leaders, across the globe has the potential to trigger the untapped genius of the continent. As a result, African women could be recognised and encouraged for the positive contributions they are already making to the world's greater capacity for success and innovation. Utilising tech-based platforms, to highlight existing role models, disrupt old perceptions and redefine the genuine narratives of African women and girls holds promise in transforming how we think about this forgotten half on the continent.
Faculty of Law Professor, first elected female Dean, of a faculty in the University of Lagos and key AWB advisor, Chioma Agomo, says it best, when she stated that, "the way I see it, there are no barriers, except the ones we imagine. The world is opening up, with more opportunities for women. We just need to make bold steps, to seize them, or in some instances create them for ourselves."
Technology just might be the great equalizer of our time, helping us to think bigger and bring into focus the reality that we need women on board these global conversations now more than ever before.
I am a strong campaigner for improved diversity in the world of technology because I firmly believe women can indeed excel in this space just like men. This explains why I in all the programmes I am involved in, we try to encourage and make it easier for women to see the space as viable. For example, at Founder Institute Lagos, we ensure that between two to four women who want to launch a technology start-up are given full or partial scholarship, depending on the situation, in order for them to join the programme and hopefully at the end of 14 weeks be ready to launch a company, leveraging technology to solve a problem.
This is why I am particularly pleased with the efforts of Nkiru Balonwu and the rest of the AWB team. Nigeria in my opinion is in dire need of more women in leadership positions, irrespective of the fact that we a largely patriarchal society – men being the majority in leadership positions have not helped us move forward, so let's give more opportunities to women and then we can judge the results for ourselves with time.
CFA is the founder of CFAmedia.ng, a business and innovation platform