By Audrey Chanakira
As we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, it is important to remember that this celebration should not be limited to a single day. All year round, we should be recognizing and celebrating the contributions of women in all facets of life, including the technology sector where many women, like myself, thrive.
While we have made progress towards gender equality, we still have a long way to go. We need to not only be treated as equals but also have our differences acknowledged, embraced, and utilized to our advantage. This is where equity comes in, which recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
In the field of ICT, women are still underestimated in terms of their knowledge, expertise, and skills in all areas of the IT industry, whether it be in selling, building, programming, or implementing solutions. Men often want to solve problems quickly, while women want to understand the problem thoroughly before solving it, bringing an analytical and problem-solving element to the workplace that can lead to more robust solutions.
If we create an environment where equity becomes the norm for hiring people, especially in tech, we can reimagine how ICT is approached and how solutions, software, and tech are created. Digitization, big data, IoT, and analytics can benefit immensely from a different approach to challenges, and as women, we certainly have different ways of working towards the same goal.
To achieve this equity, we need to encourage and stimulate girls and women to enter this space. We need to be present in meetings and events and be seen at all levels, from the work floor to the C-level suite. Only then can we truly celebrate International Women’s Day and recognize the essential role that women play in our society.
