We’re closing gap on girls’ tech involvement — WiTech
By Ariemu Ogaga
The founder of Women in Technology (Witech), Women’s Technology Empowerment Center CW-Tech, Mrs. Opeoluwa Lesi, said her organisation in collaboration with the Federal Government is working hard to close the gap between the girls and the boys in the ICT industry.
She disclosed this at a one-day event to celebrate the world day on Girls in ICT held recently in Abuja.
Lesi, speaking during an interview, said, “We are working to close the gender gap in technology. We are celebrating two things. First, we are celebrating the Girls in ICT day, which is every last Thursday of April. It is a day set aside by the ITU to create awareness about the gender gap in technology and to celebrate women and Girls in Technology.
“We are celebrating the girls of Make a Space Programme which is aimed at teaching young girls and Women to create and build technology using digital electronics and engineering and technology based principles. It’s very hands on, and the girls are building tools and devices to solve problems in their local communities. So we started an exhibition of some of the projects that they have built. We are here to celebrate them,” she said.
She also spoke on the achievements of Witech so far saying, “Since our inception in 2008 we have worked with over 36 thousand girls and women empowering and equipping them with technology and engineering skills. Out of this number we have 25% of them currently studying, Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics STEM courses in the Universities, some have graduated and are working already.
“We have 57% of our Alumina who are making money with the skills they acquired from our programme. They might not be in Tech but are using tech skills to create value and earn money. We hope to work with about four thousand girls and women per year.”
On partnerships and collaborations, she said, “Everything we do is collaboration; this project is sponsored by Google, they have given funding, capacity building training to support us doing this programme. We are also partnering with a non-profit Organisation ISDA, based here in Abuja on ground to help in recruiting, and organizing. Across all our programmes, we also get approval from the all the states’ Ministry, predominantly the Ministry of Education.
“In Lagos, where we have a lot programmes, we partner with the Ministry of Education. They basically provide support and approval so we can work with girls in schools. We have also worked with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, now Communications and Digital Economy in 14 federal colleges across Nigeria,” she added.
She noted right partners and lack of awareness as some of the challenges faced by organisations promoting Girls and Women in ICT.
“Funding and finding the right partners are some of the challenges in organizing and running our programme. Like now we are based in Lagos but here we are in Abuja, Bauchi and Nasarawa, organizing a programme; we would not have achieve these without having an effective partner on ground.
“Finding the right partners who share the same value in believing in your work. Sometimes there is misunderstanding of the work we do. It a lot better now because when we started people did not understand the role of gender in technology, if when we talk about females been shortchanged in technology, they’d tell you, ‘so what, maybe the girls don’t want to be in tech.’ There is also a lot of education process for girls to know they also have an option to be part of the tech ecosystem as girls,” she said.
The keynote speaker, Managing Partner of Sprout Digital, Damilola Anwo-Ade, who gave the keynote address said, there is a technology-biased gap between the males and the females, and that government needs to come in and help close the gap.
“We have a technological gender bias because we do not have enough women in tech, and to get women in tech, the young girls needs to start now to understand the technological access and to know how to be safe online. The more women we have creating technology, the more women we have in decision-making role in technology in government, the better for us.”
She praised Witech for helping to close the gap.
“Witech did a fantastic job, the outcome was great from the exhibition which was outstanding so I had little to do.”
She emphasised the need for the young girls and women to learn relearn and to unlearn because people are creating technology at the snap of a finger.
She urged the Government and Mobile Networks and Internet Service Providers to provide quality and free access to their service in order for women and girls to acquire skill to be self-sufficient
She called on government and others to invest in the rural areas and not just concentrate only in the urban centres.
“We have gone a long way in investment in technology, but I think investors should have a more targeted approach towards it. Most of the approaches are driven towards the urban areas, most of it is taken to Lagos, then Abuja before other spaces and unfortunately, it does not allow for diversity to happen especially for people in remote areas to have access to the kind of technology we use or internet services,” she said.
One of the participants, Better Blessing Mosee, an SS1 student of GMSS Jikwoyi, called on the government to create more skill acquisition centres to give more girls the opportunity, and create more awareness for girls from the primary level so that they can also study subjects and courses in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
A second participant, Angel Idam of The Paul’s Mission and a student of JSS Nyanyan, said with the skills she has acquired she hopes to set up an ICT firm where she would employ more women.
With the skills acquired she hopes to build an ICT company that will employ more females to create more financial independence and to prove that girls can also excel in the Techspace.”
