28.05.2019
New sectors, new opportunities: women are conquering the tech sector
Women still make up only a small minority of those working in the tech sector. In Ghana and Rwanda, though, they are learning to program apps and software and taking up jobs in the digital economy.
The tech sector is one of the most important growth markets worldwide. New industries and new jobs are springing up not just in the industrialised economies but also across Africa: cities such as Accra in Ghana and Kigali in Rwanda have become hubs in a vibrant startup scene. So far, though, women have been less able than men to benefit from this growth: around the world, women occupy only one in four jobs in the tech sector.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is working on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) to close the digital gender divide. The #eSkills4Girls Global Initiative promotes training, employment and entrepreneurship for women in the tech sector. The initiative was launched in 2017 in the course of Germany’s G20 Presidency.
Digitalisation
Digital skills for entrepreneurial women
One example of its activities is training for women run by social entrepreneur Ivy Barley and her team in Accra. Participants learn to code and complete coaching and mentoring programmes for women setting up businesses.
#eSkills4Girls also focuses on strategic partnerships with companies. For example, a training programme called Africa Code Week is run each year in partnership with software producer SAP. It gives children and young people their first taste of programming skills. In 2018, as part of the programme, GIZ supported workshops, which accommodated 14,000 participants across 15 African countries, to specifically develop digital skills.
Another approach taken by #eSkills4Girls is to promote female role models from the tech sector in a targeted way. Female tech entrepreneurs like Ivy Barley show young women that common clichés about gender roles are now out of date. Read more in our reference text ‘Digital skills for entrepreneurial women’ about how the project supports women to move into jobs in the tech sector.