#GenerationEquality: Inclusion In The Tech Ecosystem

Inclusion, as it pertains to women, hasn’t always been the order of the day, especially in a society like ours. In the last century, opportunities and involvement of women in different aspects of the economy have tripled, Nigeria now has more women in schools, in businesses, women occupying political positions e.t.c.

But as much as the numbers look encouraging, Nigeria and many countries all over the world still struggle with involving women in Tech.

According to a study conducted by the Nigerian Bureau of statistics in 2015, young men in Nigeria are almost twice as likely to have a career in computer science and technology-related fields as women. Women make up on average just 22% of the total number of Engineering and Technology university graduates each year. According to the same source, women make up roughly a fifth of the total number of people working in the information and communication technology sector.

From 2015–2019, many more organisations have taken interest in diversifying the tech ecosystem and there are now more women-targeted opportunities. It is not much of a surprise seeing as multiple studies have shown that women tend to have better relationship building skills at work, they build stronger relationships with other organisations, partners and shareholders. Studies have also shown that women in leadership roles tend to create a balanced distribution of wealth in the economy amongst other positive things.

Using Semicolon as a case study, we’ve recorded a win of two hackathons in less than 6 months and some of the key participants of those wins were a couple of our female natives — Gbemi Nimrot and Deborah Agboola. Even in the elders’ sphere, a significant amount of the individuals that push the operations of our organisation are women — with Patience Tommy leading operations management and Uzondu Uba leading community management.

With the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day being #EachforEqual; Generation Equality, the Nigerian tech community is left with the question of why the turnout of women is so low, despite the increased opportunities and a well-meaning challenge to change the narrative.

We must ask the question: How might we proffer sustainable solutions to the challenges that women in tech, as well as other industries are facing?

In the course of our operations, we are very intentional about diversity and inclusion. We had conversations with the women in our techpreneurship program concerning the challenges they face/faced before joining the tech community and they had a lot to say.

• They highlighted the challenges surrounding migration because of the centralisation of opportunities in urban cities alone. This reiterates the fact that in a society like ours, many women find it harder to relocate; so moving to Lagos for a techpreneurship programme seemed unlikely for most of them.
• Maintaining a work-home balance; having to joggle the social responsibilities of being a caregiver and the passion for thriving as a career-oriented woman.
• Lack of confidence and visibility that arises from being part of a marginalised group over an extended period of time.
• Religious and cultural barriers that arise in their day-to-day living and also as a significant part of their faith and belief system.

As a result, SWIT (Semicolon Women in Tech) was birthed; an initiative that is dedicated to identifying the challenges that women face in tech, creating awareness for these challenges and proffering sustainable solutions to these challenges.

We recognize the struggle of every woman and we are willing to play our part in lifting the burden off their shoulders. We also recognize the achievements of every woman who has overcome the hurdles of inequality at different times in their womanhood. We celebrate them and walk with them on this journey to generation equality.

It really is an undeniable fact that an equal world is an enabled world.

Happy International Women’s Day!