PWiC Allies: Dr. Waqar Saleem
The struggles that women face in the tech industry can’t just be tackled by women alone; we need male allies fighting for our cause as well. Pakistan has no shortage of men who not only realize the severity of the lack of female representation in tech but have also taken steps to actively address it. We recently had a conversation with Dr. Waqar Saleem, a close ally and partner to PWiC, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Computer Science, and Director of Women in Computer Science and Engineering (WiCSE) initiative at Habib University Karachi regarding the inspiration behind this club, the impact it has had so far, and the eventual goal it wants to accomplish.
Dr. Waqar narrates the inspiration behind WiCSE as being the appalling lack of diversity in his computer science and engineering classes. Upon noticing this lack of diversity, he decided to start the WiCSE initiative in 2015, as he believes that diverse classrooms not only enrich his teaching experience, but also contribute to more interesting discussions with his students, and greater learning opportunities for everyone. He narrates the following experience with a great sense of pride over the positive impact of WiCSE,
“It is the time of the year on campus when admission interviews are taking place. I am usually assigned to panels for CS and EE applicants. I have long maintained that female candidates, in general, are more thoughtful and better aware of how their studies can connect with society, something that the university greatly appreciates. Usually, I get one to two female candidates out of eight per session. This time, however, all eight applicants were for CS and six of them were girls! I am gleefully hoping that this is indicative of the entire incoming batch and secretly believe that WiCSE had a role to play in this!”
Habib University’s WiCSE initiative aims to address the disproportionate representation of women in Computer Science and Engineering through a multi-pronged strategy: celebrate, support, promote, investigate, analyze, advise, and disseminate. What makes this initiative truly unique, however, is the fact that it stresses the need for a contextualized effort to improve female representation in CSE. It aims to identify the barriers of entry and other obstacles that women face in tech, especially from the context of the Pakistani society.
The numerous struggles that women must face in this industry are something we’ll all aware of and have experienced firsthand. Women are subjected to implicit and explicit signaling early in their education, which discourages them from pursuing STEM as a viable career choice. This signaling stems from our society’s perception of certain professions. Medicine and education, for example, are perceived as good professions for women, as opposed to engineering. Ironically enough, this is not based on academic aptitude — girls often outperform boys in STEM subjects at school. WiCSE actively counters these perceptions by highlighting successful female STEM practitioners and inviting them to speak at the Habib University’s DSSE Public Lecture Series. In addition, it also helps foster a sense of community for women in CS through its Facebook page, collaboration with other like-minded groups, community building events within Habib University, and even arranged for participation in the Google Code Jam.
The initiative also addresses the lack of female role models in computing, and the detrimental impact this has on incoming female students. The paucity of sufficient women in CSE means that school girls do not consider CSE as a career choice and the few that do at university feel isolated and demotivated, and they eventually switch their field. Even worse, the few that work in the industry but don’t have any avenues for help, eventually become demotivated and disillusioned, resulting in a switch of career path. WiCSE arranges sessions in which female CSE students from local high schools and from Habib University interact with prominent women in CSE in an intimate setting, so these young women can find mentors to guide them along the way.
Dr. Waqar looks forward to the time where he’ll be able to see a graduating class in CS with 50% female representation. While this idea may seem far-fetched to some at this point, initiatives like WiCSE are integral in making this happen, and their efforts are worthy of an applause.
Dr. Waqar has also been a close ally to PWiC since 2016. In 2016, Code for Pakistan, Habib University and Huma Hamid (Co-Founder PWiC) collaborated to kick off one of the country’s first women-only open source day, a full-day code-a-thon using a format similar to the Open Source Day at the Grace Hopper Celebrations of Women in Computing.
In 2018, Farah Ali, (VP Engineering, Player and Developer Experience and Co-Founder PWiC) also visited Habib Unversity to hold a session about opportunities for women engineers in the gaming industry. Later that year, the team WiCSE and PWiC also worked closely to enable HU’s students to be better prepared for GHC18.
Dr. Waqar’s strong interest in diversity and inclusion and lack of representation of women in technology and computing has not only enabled his female students to be better prepared to beat the challenges of today’s industry but also an inspiration to many men that are looking for an inspiration and ways to create an impact.
About the Authors
Fatima Taj, a volunteer with the Pakistani Women in Computing, is a senior at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Currently, she’s a Software Engineering Intern at Vigilant Global in Montreal, Quebec. In her free time, Fatima loves to write, read South Asian literature, and binge-watching an ever increasing list of tv shows. You can reach out to her via Facebook or LinkedIn.
Huma Hamid, a tech-maker mom and Co-founder Pakistani Women in Computing. You can reach out to her via LinkedIn and Twitter.
