Women in Technology

So my last post ended with introducing you to the importance of a business plan. I don`t think I can stress enough on how important that is. Well today I want to blog about Women in Techcnology.

Ever since I decided to start my own technology company, I have discovered this new drive to encourage and support women in technology (http://www.womenwhotech.com , http://girlsinict.org/ ). I love it when women can participate in any endeavor without being restricted or told some things are for men only. Ok don`t get me wrong. I do think some things are for men only like peeing standing up. Women can do that too but really why would any woman want to do that.

Technology as a tool serves various purposes and women in our daily lives need tools to help us juggle having a career, raising a family and keeping a home. So it makes more sense for women to use technology to make their lives easier. I just joined this association for Ghanaian women in IT. You can check out their website at www.ghanawomeninit.org. I think it is great. I spoke to the woman who founded it and she told me that even starting the association was difficult. Most of the women present work as IT professionals in various companies and not most of them were in managerial roles. So you can imagine that convening weekday meetings where women would have to seek permission to come and then rush home to play wife, mother or girlfriend is not so easy.

In the early stage of my career, I felt that being a female programmer I had to work twice as hard to prove myself. The other thing I had to learn to deal with was learning how to work in a team. I had to learn how to fit in the all-boys club. I was mostly the only female in IT in the places I worked. There were days I just craved having other women to talk to about silly things like whether wearing polka dots underwear was sexy or strange. However I soon learnt to adjust. I always wondered why more women were not encouraged to purse IT related careers or study IT. In my IT class in university there were only three women. So I could rarely skip class because the lecturer would definitely notice my absence. After university when I decided to pursue IT as a career I really didn’t have any role models. There was no woman I personally knew in IT making a difference.

I even remember someone telling me that after a while I would give up programming and do something else. She herself had started her career in IT and decided to go into another field not IT related. I never asked why she switched but like I always say different strokes for different folks. I love programming and technology. In fact to make this clear it would take nothing short of the voice of God telling me to leave technology before I would even consider it.

Some women may think that being in technology might make you a social misfit which involves you always sitting behind your computer alone. Some see the nerdy technology enthusiast and associate that with the image of how they will turn out. None of that is the case. It depends on the individual. I don`t have the stereotypical geeky look. I don’t even look that smart. On a good day I can be out partying just like everyone else. My social skills are not awkward. I can carry a conversation and have no problem with public speaking. 

Programming is about solving a problem. I know there are many women out there who solve problems every day. From something as simple as how to accessorize an otherwise bland outfit to designing a complex algorithm to solve a traffic problem in a busy urban center.

The reality I have recently discovered is that there are quite a number of women in IT. Infact more than I thought. Yes the numbers are not as good as they could be but I believe the number is picking up. The problem is that they are working quietly and no one really hears of them that is the case in Ghana for example. 

 

I want to celebrate women like Sandy Lerner: co-founder of Cisco Systems, Sandy Jen: co-founder of Meebo and Sheryl Kara Sandberg: COO of Facebook to name a few. In Ghana I want to celebrate the founder of Camelot, Mrs. Elizabeth Villars who was one of the first qualified female Computer Programmers in Ghana, Farida Bedwei Managing Director at Logiciel and IT Consultant at G-LIFE financial services, Anne Amuzu Co founder of NandiMobile and Regina Agyare Social Entrepreneur at Soronko Solutions.

 

If the few women who are in IT make their voices heard we can encourage and motivate more women to join the fold. I have decided to start and make sure I get more women interested in computer science, programming and IT in general. Being a tech start up I would love to get more female developers on board. Men don`t feel left out; there is always a special place for you at Soronko Solutions. 

I think it would be great to have both men and women to enrich innovation, creativity and problem solving in tech companies.

Signed

Girl Tech Start Up