In the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital skills have become imperative, as governments, tech leaders and development agencies across the globe are making efforts to ensure that citizens, regardless of gender, race and socio-economic status, are equipped with these skills necessary for survival.
As is the case with everything else, this fight, which has gone on for decades, has experienced huge inequality, as the female gender has been left behind, not only in the digital literacy sector but across all Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics fields.
Lending credence to this is a report from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which revealed that 35 per cent of STEM students in higher education globally are women. To illustrate, out of 35 per cent of women studying STEM, only about three per cent opt for Information and communications Technology studies, five per cent for Mathematics and statistics courses, with eight per cent for engineering, manufacturing and construction.
This gender disparity is alarming, considering that STEM jobs and careers are the present and future, as they drive innovation, inclusive growth and sustainable economic development.
In Nigeria, female enrolment in the STEM subjects peaks at an average of 20 per cent, according to data from the National University Commission.
Although women are more attracted to STEM careers in some regions of the world than others, the female under-representation in the sector is a global challenge.
The just-celebrated International Girls in ICT Day themed ‘Connected Girls, Creating Brighter Futures’ has not only created awareness on the need for more female inclusion in ICT but raises two major issues that need to be addressed by the African tech ecosystem.
*Are we doing enough to ensure the gender STEM gap is closed, and
*How inclusive is our fight for gender STEM equality?
In the last five years, there has been a massive increase in the number of initiatives fostering increased female participation in STEM fields. However, how inclusive is this initiative? Are we unconsciously recycling the same beneficiaries between initiatives with no real impact on increased numbers? Are we unconsciously widening a classist gap by making the empowered with easy access to these programmes more empowered and the disenfranchised more disadvantaged? Are our innovative programmes and initiatives matching the demand of the entire demographic. How inclusive are we in the race of STEM gender equality?
One of the issues the Techamaka initiative aims to address is the creation of an inclusive and sustainable tech ecosystem for girls.
Yes, we celebrate all the girls in ICT who, despite social and economic obstacles, are building successful careers in what has long been described as a male-dominated sector. Inasmuch as we recognise their innovative contributions to the ecosystem, we equally want to consider unschooled girls in underserved communities who never stood a chance or have dropped out at some point due to financial restrictions.
Many free ICT trainings are usually focused on schoolgirls; also, a lot of schools selected are those with more ICT infrastructure to make learning easier to students. These schools that lack basic ICT infrastructure should be supported with the essential infrastructure as a means to an end, which is giving those girls access to such training programmes. This will help us not to arrive at an unequal future where we have more boys and less girls in STEM careers and a widened gender gap in Africa where the empowered are more empowered and the disenfranchised more disenfranchised.
The actors and influencers in the space should create more innovation strategies we can bring into this segment to ensure that girls across Africa have access to the internet, receive digital skills training, thereby promoting female inclusion in tech.
Based on this premise, Techamaka is proposing a tech ecosystem devoid of gender divide and under-representation. To achieve this, companies in support of their society should provide several public computer labs and tech tools in these underserved communities, which will encourage tech trainers to organise training sessions for girls in such communities.
Int’l Girls in ICT Day: Towards achieving inclusive, sustainable future for girls
In the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital skills have become imperative, as governments, tech leaders and development agencies across the globe are making efforts to ensure that citizens, regardless of gender, race and socio-economic status, are equipped with these skills necessary for survival.
As is the case with everything else, this fight, which has gone on for decades, has experienced huge inequality, as the female gender has been left behind, not only in the digital literacy sector but across all Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics fields.
Lending credence to this is a report from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which revealed that 35 per cent of STEM students in higher education globally are women. To illustrate, out of 35 per cey of women studying STEM, only about three per cent opt for Information and communications Technology studies, five per cent for Mathematics and statistics courses, with eight per cent for engineering, manufacturing and construction.
This gender disparity is alarming, considering that STEM jobs and careers are the present and future, as they drive innovation, inclusive growth and sustainable economic development.
In Nigeria, female enrolment in the STEM subjects peaks at an average of 20 per cent, according to data from the National University Commission.
Although women are more attracted to STEM careers in some regions of the world than others, the female under-representation in the sector is a global challenge.
The just-celebrated International Girls in ICT Day themed ‘Connected Girls, Creating Brighter Futures’ has not only created awareness on the need for more female inclusion in ICT but raises two major issues that need to be addressed by the African tech ecosystem.
*Are we doing enough to ensure the gender STEM gap is closed, and
*How inclusive is our fight for gender STEM equality?
In the last five years, there has been a massive increase in the number of initiatives fostering increased female participation in STEM fields. However, how inclusive is this initiative? Are we unconsciously recycling the same beneficiaries between initiatives with no real impact on increased numbers? Are we unconsciously widening a classist gap by making the empowered with easy access to these programmes more empowered and the disenfranchised more disadvantaged? Are our innovative programmes and initiatives matching the demand of the entire demographic. How inclusive are we in the race of STEM gender equality?
One of the issues the Techamaka initiative aims to address is the creation of an inclusive and sustainable tech ecosystem for girls.
Yes, we celebrate all the girls in ICT who, despite social and economic obstacles, are building successful careers in what has long been described as a male-dominated sector. Inasmuch as we recognise their innovative contributions to the ecosystem, we equally want to consider unschooled girls in underserved communities who never stood a chance or have dropped out at some point due to financial restrictions.
Many free ICT trainings are usually focused on schoolgirls; also, a lot of schools selected are those with more ICT infrastructure to make learning easier to students. These schools that lack basic ICT infrastructure should be supported with the essential infrastructure as a means to an end, which is giving those girls access to such training programmes. This will help us not to arrive at an unequal future where we have more boys and less girls in STEM careers and a widened gender gap in Africa where the empowered are more empowered and the disenfranchised more disenfranchised.
The actors and influencers in the space should create more innovation strategies we can bring into this segment to ensure that girls across Africa have access to the internet, receive digital skills training, thereby promoting female inclusion in tech.
Based on this premise, Techamaka is proposing a tech ecosystem devoid of gender divide and under-representation. To achieve this, companies in support of their society should provide several public computer labs and tech tools in these underserved communities, which will encourage tech trainers to organise training sessions for girls in such communities.
The world has become a global village where everything is going digital. So, whether you are going to school or not, whether basic literacy is a requirement or not, you now need basic tech skills to survive. It is, therefore, superficially fair that these girls are considered and not neglected in digital advancement.
