Young African women turn to coding- Aims to close income inequality gap

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ms Angela Koranteng was an accomplished student with a special dream.

At a time when few women were breaking the gender barrier in male-dominated studies, Ms Koranteng had her heart set on health sciences—but instead of treating patients, she wanted to be an engineer and build hospitals.

After a round of courses in computer programming, civil engineering and coding, Ms Koranteng today has earned a degree and a title: Professional African coder.

Computer software

Coding is what makes it possible to create computer software, apps and websites. Your browser, your operating system, the apps on your phone, Facebook and websites—they’re all made with code. Coding can be learned at a university or boot camp.

Because boys are exposed to technical matters in childhood and girls are not, few young African women imagine themselves on a career track in engineering.

“In college, I learned everything from scratch, whereas the boys already knew the basics,” Ms Koranteng told Africa Renewal in an interview. “That disadvantage ensured that my contributions [in class] were deemed less intelligent than those of my male counterparts.”

Even Ms Koranteng’s father was not sure that a path in coding was good for her. “He didn’t know that coding would become one of the most in-demand skills across industries,” she explained.

Not just a man’s field

Today, Ms Koranteng works with a group called STEMbees, a Ghana-based nonprofit organisation she helped to found, which mentors young women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Ms Koranteng hopes that more girls in STEM will help bridge the gender gap in computing.

Unfortunately, training in STEM still attracts fewer female students than training in teaching, law, medicine or business.

A professor of computers and information at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in the United Kingdom (UK), Karen Spärck Jones, once said that “computing is too important to be left to men.”

But even in the most developed countries, the computer field is disproportionately dominated by men. In 2013 in the United States (US), only 26 per cent of computing professionals were female—down considerably from 35 per cent in 1990 and virtually the same as in 1960.

Percentage of women

While the percentage of women in engineering has risen since 1990, the progress has been modest—from nine per cent in 1990 to 12 per cent in 2013.

A 2012 US Department of Labor survey reported that women in the US comprised 30 per cent of web developers, 25 per cent of programmers, 37 per cent of database administrators, 20 per cent of software developers and a little over 10 per cent of information security analysts.

Women also held less than 20 per cent of chief information officer positions at Fortune 250 companies, and among the Fortune 100 tech companies, only four women held chief executive officer positions.

At tech giants such as Google, over 70 per cent of technical employees were men.

Lacking reliable data, Ms Koranteng presumes Africa’s situation to be far worse than that of the US.

Growth of Internet usage

Despite the growth of Internet usage in Africa over the last decade, less than 10 per cent of the continent has access to the Internet, according to a 2017 report by Internet World Stats, an organisation that monitors global Internet usage.

Low Internet diffusion on the continent is certain to impede efforts by Africans, especially girls, to become coding professionals.

Ms Marian Tesfamichael, a young Ghanaian who has been coding in Toronto, Canada, is one of the few success stories. Her undergraduate studies were in computer science and mathematics, and her graduate studies in computer science. She is a web developer and data manager at the University of Toronto.

Ms Tesfamichael says her gender and ethnicity might have slowed her progress within the industry; many at companies she’s worked for didn’t believe she could be good at the job. However, at the moment things are looking up for her.

Another success story is Ghana’s Ethel Cofie, whom Forbes business magazine calls one of the top five women affecting IT on the continent. She is the founder and CEO of EDEL Technology Consulting, a company that provides IT and software services for businesses.

Technology and GDP growth

Ms Cofie studied computer science during the dot-com period (1995 to 2001) and took advantage of Africa’s emerging market to invest in technology, according to reports by the BBC and CNN. To promote diversity in the computer programming industry, particularly to “encourage African girls to get involved,” she founded Women in Tech Africa.

Many budding female techies from around the continent consider Ms Cofie a role model.

“Computer programming is one of the world’s most in-demand skills,” and African girls must seize the opportunity,” says Ms Cofie.

Similar sentiments have been voiced at the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Geneva-based nonprofit organisation that meets annually and bills itself as committed to public-private cooperation.

Information technology helps create new businesses in digital marketing, data sciences, and mobile money ecosystems, among others.

In 2017, revenues for information technology products and services were forecast to reach $2.4 trillion, a 3.5 per cent increase over 2016, reports International Data Corporation (IDC), which provides market intelligence for information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets. IDC adds that the figure could be $2.6 trillion by 2020.

Statistics by WEF also show that a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration can lead to a 1.4 per cent increase in GDP growth in emerging markets. The GDP growth numbers can be seen in countries adopting mobile money or other technologies that facilitate financial transactions, for example.

Technology institutions are working to increase awareness of computer programming through local conferences where girls meet role models to discuss career prospects.

Gender equality enthusiasts are optimistic that the increase in women coders will help close the gender wage inequality gap in Africa.

The next few years could witness more African women falling in love with coding, earning decent wages and transforming their countries’ economies, predicts Ms Tesfamichael.