In recognition of efforts worldwide and across the Caribbean to promote Girls in ICT, and in particular, the Caribbean.Girls.Hack suite of activities, which started since April, we discuss the meaningful inclusion of girls and women in ICT with: Nicole Pitter Patterson of Caribbean.Girls.Hack; Loly Gaitán of the EQUALS Global Partnership; and Naomi Falkenburg, of the International Telecommunication Union.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!

When April and May roll around, we start to hear about activities across the Caribbean and in other countries worldwide to recognise Girls in ICT Day. Whilst many of us might appreciate the attention that is being place on getting more girls involved in technology, there are also those among us who might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Some might even argue that in the Caribbean, in particular, girls are excelling across the education systems, and instead, there ought to be greater attention on the underperformance of our boys and young men at school.

Although there are some statistics to support that concern, the statistics also indicate that female exclusion, gender inequality or gender discrimination are still troubling issues across the Caribbean region. Hence, although female enrolment may be higher than males across most of the education systems, female youth unemployment tends to be markedly higher than men, which in turn does not augur well for high proportion of women-led, single parent households we have across the region.

With respect to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics) subjects, the situation is even more pronounced. Considerably fewer girls are enrolling in those programmes at university, and entering that field after graduation. Hence, in this the digital age, the disproportionally lower number of females in the tech space, places women and girls at a distinct disadvantage, for example, with respect to:

  • leveraging ICTs to improve their lives and livelihoods, and that of their families and communities;
  • participating or leading in tech innovation; or even
  • taking advantage of the lucrative work opportunities that the industry offers.

It is with the above considerations in mind that it was opportune for us to have a comprehensive discussion on state of women and girls in technology, with a specific focus on the Caribbean.

Nicole Pitter Patterson is the Co-Founder of Caribbean Girls Hack, which has been focused on bridging the gender digital divide in the Caribbean, engaging and upskilling girls and young women across a total of 5 countries since 2017.  She is also the Co-Founder of SheLeadsIt, a not–for–profit organization that focuses on creating opportunities for women and girls to be economically and socially empowered. Nicole is also an international development advisor with 20+ years of expertise in both the public and private sectors. She holds an M.A. in Regional Economic Development, with a B.A. in Economics.

 

Loly Gaitán is the Community Manager of EQUALS Global Partnership to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide, an initiative with over 90 partners and co-founded by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Trade Centre, UN Women, GSM Association and the UN University. She holds a Ph.D. in International Law and Economics, an LL.M in International Trade Law from ITC/ILO, a Master in Public Policy Studies,  and a double Bachelor degree in Political Science and Law.

 

Naomi Falkenburg is the Programme Officer in the Digital Inclusion Division of the ITU, the UN specialized agency for ICTs. Naomi promotes the use of ICTs for the socio-economic empowerment and full, effective participation in society and the digital economy of all people, including: women and girls, children and young people, persons with disabilities and older persons, and Indigenous Peoples.  She holds a Master’s degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy.

In the discussion with Nicole, Loly and Naomi, we covered a lot of ground. Some of questions posed during our conversation included the following

  1. What is Caribbean.Girls.Hack, and how did it get started?
  2. How is Caribbean.Girls.Hack connected to the ITU, and its Girls in ICT Day initiative?
  3. What is the EQUALS Global Partnership, and how are Girls in ICT Day and the EQUALS Global Partnership connected?
  4. What are some of the insights and statistics with respect to women and girls in technology and digital inclusion?
  5. What is the Caribbean experience, with respect to Girls in ICT, and possible reasons why women and girls are not studying or pursuing careers in technology?
  6. How have Caribbean.Girls.Hack, the EQUALS Global Partnership, and the ITU been measuring the longer term impact of their activities?
  7. What drove the ladies, all of whom have non-tech backgrounds, not just to be involved in, but to lead, or to be actively involved, in such important tech-related initiatives?
  8. For women who are now operating in the tech space, what has been their experience as a ‘women in tech’?
  9. With Girls.Hack hackathon starting on 14 May, what are some of the upcoming Caribbean.Girls.Hack and SheLeadsIt activities that will be occurring in the Caribbean?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Kabusa16 (Wikipedia Commons);  N Pitter Patterson; L Gaitán;  N Falkenburg

Music credit:  Ray Holman