For women and girls in Uganda, a dream career in computing is still incredibly challenging. Despite its extraordinary rise over the last five decades, and the country’s ever increasing reliance on technology, women and girls still constitute the lowest percentage of the workforce in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers.
The dismal percentage of women in the field of STEM is explained by a number of barriers that smother their ideas right from childhood.
The notion that computing can only be handled by the male gender is deeply ingrained in Ugandan society. Consequently, the few girls who aspire to join the computing world first ponder if they haven’t been overrating themselves, and hesitate to geek.
“During initial mentoring in Technovation, girls took so long to finally share their idea. And when they did I wondered why they were afraid to express it,” said Sabrina Atwiine.
A student ambassador for Technovation in Uganda, Sabrina hopes to change the status quo by recruiting more girls in Uganda to join Technovation when she returns from the international Technovation Pitch event in August in California.
“I want to contribute in changing the misconception that girls can’t handle anything scientific.”
The cultural and systemic barriers to STEM fields has led to few female mentors who would otherwise encourage girls who have a strong resolve to realize their computing dreams.
However, over the past few years, Oysters & Pearls-Uganda has taken the mantle to mentor hundreds of girls in mobile app development. Hence, amid the daunting challenges they face, female students are steadily joining computing.
Phyllis Nassuna is the Program Director Women/Girls in Technology at Oysters &Pearls-Uganda. As the Northern Uganda Regional Ambassador for Technovation, she encourages girls that, “Technovation is not about winning or being in the first position, but the experience you share and the apps that are developed.”
Brian Ndyaguma, a Judge at the northern regional Technovation pitch event, said he had seen Technovation grow significantly in Uganda in the past three years.
“In 2014 only 20 girls from two schools participated in Technovation at Makerere University. But last year, we had two hundred contestants,” Brian said.
However, he thinks it is about time the female app developers started selling their inventions.
“With innovations, the earlier you market it, the better. If you come up with an award-winning pitch and sit on it, then you are the same as the person who never attended a Technovation class,” Brian said.
Daniel Ogenrwot, a lecturer at the Computer Science department of Gulu University, says with the influx of cheap smart phones in Uganda, he is optimistic about the future of female “appnovators.”
“I wish I had the opportunity to start developing mobile apps when I was young as these girls. I would be better than I am now,” he said.
