Posts By: Samantha

By Simone Botes, Head of Education Operations & Impact at Hyperiondev

The relentless global and local demand for top tech talent has put South African companies on the back foot, as there aren’t enough technical skills to meet business demand. Yet ironically, the solution is on the country’s doorstep.

As South Africa celebrates International Women’s month, it’s appropriate to spotlight the underrepresented and often overlooked group that holds the key to our nation’s technological and economic advancement: women in technology.

While South Africa grapples with a tech skills scarcity, the proportion of females to males in the tech sector is out of kilter, with women holding only 23% of tech jobs. This is alarmingly disproportionate, and the issue extends beyond South Africa. A recent report by McKinsey also reveals that in the UK, women represent only 24.5% of tech positions. Considering the global tech industry anticipates structural growth of 69 million jobs by 2027, the need to harness the talents of women in this sector has never been more urgent.

Regrettably, women’s involvement in South Africa’s tech industry faces many obstacles restricting their full participation and progress. Deep-rooted societal stereotypes and gender biases stubbornly sustain the false narrative that tech is predominantly a ‘man’s world’. This, along with insufficient STEM education and mentorship opportunities for young girls, sharply constricts the flow of female talent into technology careers.

The scarcity of role models compounds the issue. With a shortage of women in tech leadership positions, aspiring women lack visible success benchmarks to fuel their career ambitions. Exacerbating the problem is persistent gender pay discrepancies and unequal opportunities for career growth, further discouraging women from entering and remaining in the tech field.

Tackling these hurdles requires a concerted and informed approach, recognising that empowering women in tech is crucial for equity and economic growth. The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2023 indicates that 79% of organisations are set to focus on women within their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, signalling a global recognition of women’s essential role in defining the workforce of tomorrow.

Dismantling the barriers to entry

To close the skills gap in the tech industry, creating educational opportunities, providing financial assistance, and fostering inclusivity is essential. Public and private entities must work together to remove obstacles to ensure women enter the tech sector and excel in it.

Educational curricula should also integrate tech-focused programs from an early age to effect change. Initiatives like coding boot camps, tech clubs, and scholarship programs targeting young girls can build an early interest and tech capability.

Furthermore, mentorship from experienced tech professionals and professional development programs can offer invaluable support to newcomers. Company leaders must actively acknowledge and celebrate female achievements to reinforce that women are integral to the sector’s evolution.

Corporate policies are also crucial in ensuring fair recruitment, supportive work environments, and equal pay to cultivate a workplace that embraces diversity. Companies must develop policies that support work-life balance, including flexible working hours, remote work options, and maternity leave, to make tech careers more attractive and feasible for women. For instance, implementing remote work or providing flexibility aimed at an outcomes-based approach in performance metrics can assist single mothers or working mothers in achieving their goals and maintaining a balanced work-life integration. Furthermore, the correct support mechanisms provided by employers can help reduce bias against working women and facilitate their career advancement.

This International Women’s Day is a rallying cry for change. By dismantling the barriers that sideline women in the tech industry, we can unlock the full potential of our nation’s women while paving the way for robust economic growth.

‘Take Centre Stage’ winner Thoko Miya redefines tech industry to be more inclusive

Gender inclusivity is gaining momentum and as we acknowledge International Women’s Month this March, it’s key to note that more women are joining the traditionally male-dominated ICT sector than men. This is a major step forward. The Commission for Employment Equity’s 23^rd Employment Equity Report for the 2022/2023 financial year reveals that in 2023 the ICT sector reported that 58,7% of males made up its workforce while, importantly, women employees increased to 41,3% in 2023 up from 39,5% in the previous period.

This means that an additional 54 670 women entered the sector during the reported period. This is significant as women have traditionally been absent from the ICT sector, for myriad reasons, and their increased presence at the South African tech sector table is noteworthy.

Greater sector inclusivity is the North Star that inspires Thoko Miya, CEO of GirlHype, every day. The winner of the Retail Capital ‘Take Centre Stage’ competition, she is nothing short of an activist and CEO whose aim is to enable more women to gain access to the ICT sector. For the past decade Miya has been laser focused on upskilling girls, and young women, in areas such as coding, programming and computer science – areas that South African women have historically lacked skills in and access to.

While in 2023 54,43% of women in South Africa were economically active (StatsSA), meaning roughly 45,57% were not, GirlHype has been playing a key role in upskilling women across the country. To date, the NPO has trained over 1-million females through its educational interventions (grade 6 – 12 after-school education in partnership with schools around the country; “code clubs” at universities and mentorship efforts for the unemployed) granting them greater entry into the tech sector and job security.

“It is our view and passion to empower girls and young women who largely come from disadvantaged backgrounds access to the tech sector by giving them early exposure to computer science and, through our efforts – involving them in our nationwide “Code Clubs” that provide training in critical skills that the local market urgently needs, boosting learners’ knowledge base, skills and hireability,” says Miya.

To put this into perspective, according to a recent ICT skills survey by Umazi, South Africa has a skills shortage of approximately 77,000 high-value digital jobs and outsources 300,000 tech jobs to overseas workers. To say we have a skills shortage is nothing but an understatement.

While the President is currently reviewing draft regulations with regards to remote working and critical skills visas – that will, if passed, make it easier for local businesses to attract skilled individuals into South Africa, to help develop and grow the economy – there appears to be a big, missed opportunity to invest in our people here at home instead of acquiring offshore skills.

“The talent that exists locally is immense. Yet our people, especially young women and girls, have been left out of the tech industry due to historical and stereotypical reasons. Now is the time to empower and enable them to play a critical role in our country’s massive skills gap and is why we are scaling our efforts to help millions more gain access to this sector, at pace” says Miya.

Thea Olivier is Executive: Retail Capital Operations – the country’s leading alternative SME financier and division of TymeBank – she says that individuals like Miya are exemplary and need support from government, the private sector and funding enablers. “Thoko’s story and efforts seriously impressed us and she received R100k in seed funding by winning our ‘Take Centre Stage’ competition which ran earlier this year. She intends to use the capital to digitise her organisation and scale it both locally and internationally, taking her training in tech to those who may not have had an opportunity to access the content, teaching and mentoring otherwise.”

Miya, at just 30 years old, has been involved in the GirlHype venture for a decade already having learnt everything she knows from her mother who founded the business in 2003 and whose steps she followed every Saturday to learn code. Through exposure to this training and clearly having a natural brilliance, by 11 Miya was joining classes of matrics to write that grade’s computer science exams – which she easily passed.

After attaining her Bachelor in Technology from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), she took over GirlHype from her mom and become its CEO in 2023. This saw Miya manage partnerships, funding, budgets, programmes and admin, among much more, all the while expanding her love of coding, and importantly sharing it through education with others.

Among Miya’s impetus is this: ICT training forms part of the STEM educational system (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) and, according to many including the World Bank, revolutionising the STEM ecosystem in South Africa, and across the continent, is urgent. This as countries with a high STEM human capital are competitive, productive and experience high economic growth. STEM subjects help learners adopt real-world applications, ignite their creativity while cultivating 21^st-Century skills such as technology literacy, productivity and initiative.

“While we celebrated 30 years of democracy in 2023, there is no question that there is a generation of citizens that need help to make up for lost time. Our focus is on girls and young women, as well as those who are unemployed, but we do not exclude boys from our training. Our goal is to upskill as many young people as we can and is why the Retail Capital R100k winnings will be used to turn our manual operation into a tech-led effort that will reach many millions, everywhere via an app and website.

“As CEO I am enthused to help make a difference, as I also experienced how certain doors were closed to me. If it wasn’t for my mom, I may not have ended up here. But here I am and I want to make South Africa better for girls and women while providing the local ICT sector access to skills that are of the highest level and urgently needed,” concludes Miya.

To learn more about GirlHype visit https://girlhype.co.za/.

Women in South Africa (SA) are uniquely positioned to become the solution to the country’s greatest challenges by harnessing the power of technology, says Divesh Sooka, General Manager, ALX South Africa

Against the backdrop of this year’s United Nations International Women’s Day (IWD) theme, ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’, ALX calls on SA’s rapidly growing technology sector to take shared ownership in addressing the digital gender gap, or risk leaving a generation of talented, young women behind in the fourth industrial revolution. 

According to a recent report, women hold only 23% of tech employment positions in SA, accounting for just under a quarter of information and communication technology (ICT) roles.

However, as the heads of most households, and the backbone of the communities they live in, women are well placed to innovate and lead society towards better services and economic opportunities. Given the right combination of digital skills, support and training, women can realise their potential and become change makers both at a grassroots level and in the boardroom. 

“Organisations should be representative of the societies they operate in. Without women at the forefront of projects that drive change and innovation, Africa is missing out on half of the continent’s socio-economic potential,” says Sooka. According to the Commission for Employment Equity’s (CEE’s) 23rd Employment Equity Report for the 2022/2023 financial year, the uptake of women employees in the ICT sector has seen a marginal improvement over the last few years. The proportion of women employed in the sector grew from 39,5% in 2021 to nearly 41,3% in 2023.

Tech Injustice: Closing the Gender Gap in Digital Opportunities

“While progress has been made in addressing the demand for digital expertise within emerging economies across the continent, there is still a critical need to bridge the gender divide, harnessing the untapped potential of women in the technology sector,” says Sooka. 

SA has one of the highest rate of unemployment in the world despite a growing pool of graduates, many of whom have not gained the skills they need to enter the job market in high-demand industries. 

Despite an eagerness to take part in their own social and economic progress, young SA women are not equipped to tackle the social and economic issues that disproportionately affect them because they lack access to digital skills and access to infrastructure.

A 2023 global survey found that skills shortage is viewed as the biggest obstacle to entry into Africa’s tech marketplace. Additionally, 21% of women in tech roles are working more than one job to make ends meet.

ALX commits to real, impactful change in Africa’s digital skills revolution. 

ALX is on a mission to develop two million ethical and entrepreneurial leaders from Africa by 2030. It aims to achieve this with a particular focus on helping women to not only participate, but lead, in shaping their communities and the world in the age of the digital revolution. 

Committed to enabling millions of South African women to kickstart and accelerate their careers, ALX in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation has launched a new, six-week, fully online AI Career Essentials (AiCE) programme. The fully sponsored programme combines technical knowledge, professional skills, and Al tools training in one programme, providing young female talent with an unmatched opportunity to access professional AI skills training to transform their careers. 

ALX has trained over 97,000 work-ready digital leaders and is rapidly scaling its learner community, having enrolled over 100,000 learners in the first two months of 2024.

“Women deserve dignified and meaningful work opportunities, not just a foot in the door. They have the collective potential to empower a generation of agile digital leaders built for the 21st century. Together, we can unlock the potential of women as innovators, leaders, change-makers, and problem solvers that address the needs of the world today and recognise women as the change-makers of tomorrow,” Sooka concludes.

Visit www.alx.co.za to find out more. 

Lauren Wortmann, Vice President: Applications and Cloud at Dimension Data and a seasoned IT professional, shares her insight around gender inequality within the tech sector and why it’s crucial that there is more investment into technology skills development for the country’s women.

According to Women in Tech, an initiative that aims to help address the gender gap in the ICT sector through advocacy and raising awareness, only 23% of tech jobs are held by women in South Africa. To put this in perspective, out of 236 000 ICT roles, women occupy only 56 000 of them. This gender disparity not only stands in the way of the industry’s potential for growth and innovation but also perpetuates systemic inequalities, creating a bottleneck for South Africa’s journey towards economic empowerment and social equity.

At the heart of the issue lies a complex interplay of socio-cultural barriers, systemic biases, and structural challenges. Historically, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields have been perceived as male-dominated, which has entrenched a stereotype that tech is a field reserved for men. This stereotype, coupled with societal expectations and gender norms, steers many young girls away from choosing careers in technology, sometimes as early as primary school. As a result, we’re seeing a lack of female talent in the tech industry.

This lack of female talent creates another negative ripple effect – the absence of successful female role models. When the next generation of women don’t see strong female leaders finding success in ICT, the misconception that women don’t belong in this space is reinforced. As a knock on, any aspirations that girls might have to enter the field are undermined and the notion of tech being a male-centric space becomes the narrative.

How do we shift the equality needle?

There are many things that can be done to nurture and grow female talent, at different levels and stages.

As a start, we must encourage girls to explore, experiment, and create with technology to show them the possibilities and opportunities that technology offers. Increasing the number of girls who choose to study STEM subjects at school is the first step in reducing the gender gap in the workplace. If we can urge parents to avoid outdated stereotypes around these subjects, give girls positive STEM role models, and show them that they can achieve in these subjects, then hopefully more girls will take and succeed in studying them.

Moving forward, we need to provide women in technology with more support, guidance, and recognition, and to create a culture of inclusion, respect, and collaboration in the tech industry. We need to address the barriers and challenges that women in technology face, such as bias, harassment, and burnout, and to create spaces for them to thrive.

We need to amplify the voices, stories, and achievements of women in technology, and to celebrate their contributions and impact. We must show young woman what’s possible and show them that there are other women paving the way for them. We need to raise awareness, educate, and advocate for more diversity, representation, and leadership of women in technology.

But most of all, we need to show woman that they deserve a seat at the table not because they are woman but because of their talents, differences and capability.

Too many of the women in this field are in HR and marketing or “back office” roles rather the deep technical or business management roles. This needs to change, but it starts in our homes, our schools, and universities and from there must flow into the workspace.

Companies must prioritise diversity and inclusion as core values, implementing policies and practices that foster a culture of belonging and respect for all employees. This includes zero-tolerance policies for harassment and discrimination, flexible work arrangements, and initiatives to promote women’s leadership and career advancement in the tech sector. By creating inclusive workplaces where diversity is celebrated and valued, companies can attract and retain top female talent, driving innovation and competitiveness in the digital age.

The more women there are in the tech industry, the easier it will be for future generations to take their seat at the table. Of course changing perceptions will be hard. Closing the gender gap comes with challenges, but nothing will change if we assume someone else will change it. One of my favourite quotes that supports this is: “If not us then who, if not now then when?”. The future is now, the future is female, and it is up to us to ensure that no woman gets left behind.