Tech-savvy women committed to inspiring others

WOMEN in tech are challenging the gender disparity in their field and are inspiring more women to pursue careers in the male-dominated industry.

Software developers Mikaela Gabriels and Tegwen Galant want to show other women that working in technology can be a viable and fulfilling career.

The pair met through UWC’s Future-Innovation Lab in collaboration with Samsung, a programme created to address gender and diversity imbalances in the sector.

Gabriels and Galant are graduates of the programme – in multi-platform software development and social innovation – and describe themselves as women wanting to make their mark in the tech industry.

A report by PwC about women in tech confirmed that women hold 19% of tech-related jobs at top ten global companies, compared to men who hold 81%. In leadership roles, women make up 28%.

Galant said it has been tough as a woman in software development.

“I feel like we sometimes need to work 10 times harder, but I am hopeful that the work we do will change that. Whenever I’ve gotten stuck, it’s been women who helped me,” she said.

Gabriels said she remembers always having an IT guy at work, it was never a woman.

“It’s difficult because we are constantly undermined, but we are still striving for excellence,” she said.

Both women agreed that access to education and opportunities in their

industry were barriers to entry.

“There were such few opportunities on my radar, from what to study to jobs, it was always few and far between,” Galant said.

Gabriels added: “This skill set requires a lot of money and it’s not easy, but with determination and the right mindset, it is achievable.”

Gabriels said it was encouraging to hear that the work she does can make life easier for other people.

“I live by having a growth mindset now. If the work we put out there is enough to help one person, I am content with it.”

A software engineer at Luno, Retshidisitswe Lehata, said her love for software development came from a project she did in her high school technology class.

“I was still very intimidated by the prospect of choosing IT as one of my subjects in Grade 10, so I didn’t,” she said.

She added: “With the help of an aptitude test, I applied for a BSc in Computer Science at UWC.”

Lehata said while studying she noticed a significant decline in the number of females in her class that were dropping out.

“This was very concerning for me at the time. Little did I know that the reduced number of females would be the tone for what was to come later on in my career, where in many situations I’d be faced with the reality of being the only female voice in the room.”

Lehata said the imbalance had robbed her of the experience of getting to work with other females in the tech space. “I have since seen a steady increase in the number of females within the tech industry over recent years, which is comforting.”

She added: “We need to support females throughout their studies and early career stages to help them find their place within this male-dominated space.”