Charis Chrisna
TechInAfrica – As we all know; the future of technology and research development is often defined by substantial computer skills and significant capabilities on engineering competence. Thus, to code programs and applications can be said as to contribute to the referred future—both directly and indirectly. Despite this, many still regard coding and software engineering as fields for the male gender, as females are often stereotyped as incompetent and ineffectual. Yet contrary to popular belief, young females of Africa are now joining in the coding scene thanks to the Code Like a Girl initiative designed for girls aged between 14-18 years.
With aims to redefine society’s perspective on women of technology, Code Like a Girl was based on lack of female participation in the fields related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Not just in Africa, but globally, men still dominate said fields, making a digital gender gap that leaves the females at a disadvantage—with little to no room to improve themselves. Albeit various contributions have been made to close the gender gap in the last few years, this was still a dire problem to be addressed in today’s society.
In South Africa, the gap is widening throughout STEM careers and fields. Code Like a Girl delves in further to solve this issue by offering trainings related to basic programming language and program development. Such trainings like HTML, CSS, GitHub, Bootstrap, Java, and other generic essentials will be introduced and provided from June 24th through July 5th. After the initiative, each girl is expected to be able to develop their own websites—as well as presenting her work to the rest of the class.
With high hopes to partake in upcoming technology-related activities, the initiative indirectly addresses to the issue which states only 35 percent of higher education STEM students (globally) are women. Furthermore, the Engineering Council of South Africa spoke a few years ago that only a staggering 11 percent of their engineers are women.
The program, implemented and operative in South Africa, Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, has put over 755 young girls in training.
Source: cajnewsafrica.com
