Africa-Press – South-Africa. The tech industry, both in South Africa and globally, is still significantly male-dominated, but there are opportunities for women in tech entrepreneurship and remote work, says an expert.
The co-founder of Women in Tech ZA, Samantha Perry, said the tech industry had seen a significant increase in women entrepreneurs, but the same could not be said for tech jobs.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, globally, women occupied only 24% of leadership roles in technology, as opposed to their male counterparts (76%) who have, for many years, dominated the industry.
Although this is the case, women increasingly grab tech opportunities in remote work.
“We’ve definitely had some growth in the sector in terms of entrepreneurs, but in terms of the number of women employed in the sector, unfortunately, that’s been going down in the last few years, and that’s not great,” Perry told News24.
Inclusion in tech
Various initiatives exist to bridge the gender gap parity within the tech industry.
One recent example includes Standard Chartered Bank’s launch of its Women in Tech (WiT) Incubator Programme in South Africa.
This initiative aims to empower and support women entrepreneurs in the technology sector, providing R2.7 million worth of funding to support this initiative.
According to the bank, interested applicants underwent a rigorous selection process, after which five successful candidates would be chosen to participate in the intensive 12-week programme.
This will see them each walking away with seed money, mentorship and training.
“We definitely need more women entrepreneurs developing tech products that are specifically aligned for women,” said Perry.
“Working on an initiative like this – specifically designed to support women in the tech industry – is welcome.”
Existing challenges for women in tech
According to Perry, the industry was still male-dominated, and with the perception that certain subjects were not for girls, a barrier to entry was created for women from early on in their school years.
She said:
“The ‘gender problem’ is also one of the major issues crippling growth for women in the tech industry with unfounded criticisms that women can’t perform certain jobs.
“There’s also a relative amount of sexism in the community, still with men saying, ‘what do you know, you’re a woman’,” Perry said.
Bigger companies, according to her, have gotten better at addressing this discrimination as part of their overall diversity and inclusivity initiatives.
According to Women In Tech ZA, only 23% of tech jobs were held by women in South Africa.
“We don’t see a lot of women in the sector and there are not enough role models for girls and young women to look up to,” Perry told News24.
Another major issue in the industry is that women are seen mainly for their roles at home and hardly ever given leadership roles in the industry.
“There’s also a lot of perception that women will come into the company and [leave] in a few years to get married and [raise children],” Perry said.
She added as a result of this perception, many companies would withhold investments in women candidates because they believed they would not be there for the long haul.
Opportunities for women in tech
But there are many opportunities in tech that women can also pursue outside of the corporate environment, and many of these exist within the e-commerce and consulting space – among other categories.
“These also give women the freedom to work hours that suit them so that they can work flexibly on the go, wherever they are, and wherever they need to be,” said Perry.
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