Bridging The Gap For Women In Africa Using Engineering

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Bridging The Gap For Women In Africa Using
Engineering Technology

• Margaret Ajibode
• Operations Director for ICT and Engineering
• African Women Of Essence International (AWEI)

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Introduction Personal

• Engineering/ICT background
• Hobbies adventure sport, music, theatre
• Working on the newly set up AWEI project
• Own IT Management Solution Business called Obatec
• Passionate about my family, educating and
  breaking down barriers using technology

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INTRODUCTION AWEI AFRICAN WOMEN OF ESSENCE
INTERNATIONAL

• A subsidiary of GWIIN Global Women Inventors
  Innovators Network
• Set up in 2005 after the (PAWII) - Pan African
  Women Invent Innovate conference
• Mission
• To support the advancement of innovative African
  women in the Diaspora who are interested in
  linking with Africa by providing opportunities to
  participate in professional and business
  networking, mentoring, and leadership activities

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Pan African Womens Conference 2005 in Ghana

• - A willingness to Learn and Aspire

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Pan African Womens Conference 2005 in Ghana
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Pan African Womens Conference 2005 in Ghana

• Approx 300 women across Africa came together to
  share and
• showcase their creative capacity.
• Two of the comments
• The main aspect in my country is having easy
  access to technology and exposure to relevant
  solutions that can be adopted.
• Gaining access to technological solutions remains
  an issue.

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• The greatest revolution in any country is the
  one
• that affects positively the lives of women, and
• there is no doubt that, if women are encouraged
• to realise their potential, that its not only
  their life
• which would be affected but the life and
  situation
• of the whole household which is the basic unit of
• our national economy.
• Jawaharlal Nehru, the father of Mrs Indira Gandi

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Pan African Womens Conference

• Identified
• Challenges faced by women in Africa
• Need to educate and raise awareness of how
  Engineering and ICT can enhance the potential of
  African women business owners
• Development of strategies and policies relating
  to the elimination of barriers faced by African
  women in relation to Engineering and ICT
• The use of Engineering ICT to encourage
  creativity and innovation in business.
• The creation of tools for an environment
  favorable for women in business.

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Key issues regarding Engineering Technology

• The main challenge facing African women is
  gaining easy access to information technology and
  access to technological solutions for business
  problems
• Many women and girls in Africa are poorly placed
  to profit from a knowledge society because they
  have less access to science and technical
  education and also education in general.

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African Women And Internet Access

• Bola Olabisi, PAWII Director, reported that many
  attendees,
• especially the women from Sub-Saharan Africa had
  difficulty
• receiving or sending emails, even to register for
  the conference.
• Doing so sometimes involved long trips to the
  nearest Internet
• cafes often the cafes are rowdy and are
  uncomfortable or
• appear dangerous for women.
• ICT challenges for women included use of email
• having to print out important information in
  such
• public places having to respond to them on paper
  and then
• paying to have them typed in by others at the
  Internet café

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Some Key findings from the report of what women
wanted

• The need to educate, retain and retrain,
• Create an Engineer for the Africans Initiative
  an Hewlett Packard sponsored capacity building
  program
• Dr Barbara Waugh, Director, University Relations
  Hewlett-Packard Company explained The Hewlett
  Packard sponsored Engineer for the Americans
  initiative could be considered.
• Develop more Centres of Excellence for
  Engineering and Technology
• A new wave of thinking is needed which focuses
  on the need for Africans to take engineering and
  technology more seriously and adapt it to the
  African situation
• Development of a curriculum with an African
  context should be encouraged
• Make Entrepreneurship part of the curriculum
• Provide engineering students with modules for
  setting up businesses

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Bridging the Gender digital divide in Africa

• Equal access to ICTs for women and man is
  insufficient
• to guarantee gender equality. Women and girls
  have to
• be given special attention and opportunities to
  empower
• disadvantaged women, who are often
  over-represented
• among the rural poor and illiterate. Women are
  also
• confronted by more restrictions in access to and
  use of
• ICTs than men. Domestic duties and social
  barriers can
• prevent women from taking advantage of digital
• opportunities.
• Source World Summit Information Society report
  2005

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It is also about

• promoting capacity building in engineering and
  technology for poverty eradication, secure and
  sustainable social and economic development
• Engineering is the bridge between Science and
• Society, turning scientific breakthroughs into
  practical tools for the welfare of mankind.
• Jose Medem Sanjuan, President of WFEO
• WFEO General Assembly, Moscow, September 2001

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A Way forward to Bridge the Gap for African
Women using Engineering Technology

• Use technology to enable African women to
  communicate and network with each other.
• Create an Engineer for the Africans Initiative
  an Hewlett Packard sponsored capacity building
  program
• Adopt the UNESCO Programme in Engineering for a
  Better World
• Capacity Building in Engineering and Technology
• Engineering and Technology for Poverty
  Eradication
• Engineering and Technology for Sustainable
  Development
• Public/private Partnerships

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A Way forward to Bridge the Gap for African
Women using Engineering Technology

• Design IT training and software applications
• Ensure that IT training is accessible and
  delivered across Africa.
• Provide safe and women friendly Internet cafes
  with the e-business infrastructure
• International standards for IT and Engineering
  training must be explored for Africa
• Communicate with the rest of the world on the IT
  and engineering situation in Africa.
• Involve women in policy making

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To Summarise

• Develop more centres of excellence
• Develop curriculum with an African context
• Develop and resource ICT access The overwhelming
  urgency to connect African business women to each
  other and to global systems.
• The need to develop the infrastructure needed to
  bring information via the Internet to women
  throughout Africa
• Promote capacity building in engineering and
  technology for poverty eradication, secure and
  sustainable social and economic development

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The Missing Link A multi-disciplinary network

• Future Aim of PAWII
• Bridging the Missing Link between engineering,
  technology, research, policy makers and business
• PAWII 2007 to develop a network of scientists,
  engineers,
• entrepreneurs, policy makers and financial
  institutions
• Without this it is difficult to have a sound
  business or
• economy.

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Finally
"Until women are fully represented in the
fields of science and engineering, society is
losing out on the talents of a vast number of
potential contributors. Academic institutions are
losing out. Corporations are losing out.
Individuals are losing out. We all lose out."
Carol B. Muller, Ph.D., Founder, MentorNet
Watch out for the next Pan-African Women
Inventors Innovators Network (PAWIIN)
Conference 2007 to be held in Cameroun in
November !
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• Bridging The Gap For Women In Africa Using
  Engineering Technology
• TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT
• GWIIN, PAWII, AWEI
• OUR ACTIVITIES
• VISIT
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