Hope for girls in ICT as more mentorship programmes roll out

28-YEAR-OLD Angel Bisamaza recalls they were only seven girls out of a class of sixty during her university days at the National University of Rwanda. Although her childhood dream was to be a lawyer like her father or a journalist, Bisamaza ended up pursuing a course in Information Communication Technology and now she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. “I could not afford law school and in school I was actually good with numbers. So the best way to keep going was to get a scholarship and I got one to study computer science,” the graduate from National University of Rwanda narrates. Unlike most girls who view sciences as a male domain, Bisamaza has no regrets with the choice she made when she took on sciences: “I think I found what I wanted. Things have their own way of working out as long as you keep giving it your best. I have no regrets at all.” Bisamaza worked with Rwandatel as a data centre engineer for a year before she moved to South Korea to pursue her Masters in Computer Networking before becoming a product development/planning manager for LG electronics in South Korea. [READ ALSO: Silicon Valley women gurus inspire Rwandans] She advises that although ICT is largely considered a male dominated field, you need to love what you do to excel, whether you’re a male or female. Bisamaza attributes her urge to keep going on the encouragement and motivation from different people she has worked and interacted with. “One thing that kept me going in the ICT field was my first manager at Rwandatel, he mentored us well and made us fall in love with what we were doing and ICTs. If I didn’t enjoy what I was doing, I would have given up. I also made sure that whatever I did made sense,” Bisamaza reveals. She also adds that the best way to overcome intimidation and fear is to be confident in whatever you do. During her stint at Rwandatel, Bisamaza had to contend with working in a male dominated work environment. “At the time, we were just two girls in a team of over ten men. I will not say I never felt intimidated by the number of men I worked with but I made sure I did my work well and they respected me,” Bisamaza explains. Bisamaza says the main challenge women face in embracing sciences, especially in the ICT field, is the perception that women can’t manage the challenges of working late hours and being called anytime to fix a problem. “Male colleagues used to direct jokes at me, that when I get married, will I be waking up in the middle of the night to go fix a server in case of an emergency. So this portrays ICT as having tasks that are too demanding for a girl,” Bisamaza notes. As a result of this fear, Bisamaza says most girl shun taking on ICTs as their first choice of career. She further explains that even the few women who have excelled in the field of ICTs are barely active in promoting and encouraging more girls to join ICTs. “These women who have excelled because of their ICT training need platforms to motivate, mentor and inspire other women and girls to join the science field,” Bisamaza explains. But as the crusade to increase women participation in ICTs continues more avenues and programmes are coming up for this cause. Next month Tech Women Alumni is launching a mentorship programme for Girls in ICTs. Bisamaza is a member of Tech Women Alumni, an association of women who have undergone mentorship in ICTs at Silicon Valley in the USA. On February 3 about 40 women representatives from 20 leading Silicon Valley based tech companies in the United States such as Twitter, Cisco, Intel, EMC and Symantec will converge in Rwanda in what is called “Women in Technology Exclusive Cocktail. According to Bisamaza the programme is aimed at empowering and providing role models to young women who have interest in the field of ICTs and sciences in general. During the same event, Techgirls Mentorship Programme, an initiative aimed at reaching out to school going girls in an effort to bridge the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields will be launched. Bisamaza was among the six Rwandans who benefited from a five-week interactive and mentorship programme at the Silicon Valley-based firm to work on projects as part of industrial training by Tech Women. It’s a global challenge According to a 2010 study titled: Women encounter inequality in science & technology fields” by Susan Elan ‘Pervasive barriers restrict women’s participation even in the wealthiest nations. The study assessed the level of support, opportunities and participation of women in science in the world’s leading knowledge-based economies: the European Union, the United States, Brazil, South Africa, India, Korea and Indonesia. The environmental and social barriers include; stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities that continue to block women’s progress in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). ***** MENTORSHIP HONED OUR ICT SKILLS Guillaine Neza, a soft ware developer with Partners in Health, was among those who benefited from a five-week interactive and mentorship programme at the Silicon Valley-based firm to work on projects as part of industrial training by Tech Women. She shared her experience and expectations of the upcoming mentorship programme, with Doreen Umutesi. On February 3 about 40 women representatives from 20 leading Silicon Valley based tech companies in the United States will in Rwanda to share their experiences. How do you think the meeting of Silicon Valley women will impact girls and women? It will enhance our self esteem and thus influence our passion for sciences. It will address the gap observed in most parts of the world where sciences are a male dominated field, so hearing from their testimonies and challenges on how they balance their career life with their professional life, they will empower young girls through these mentorship initiatives. In the long run the number of females in science fields will increase. What is your advice to young girls regarding taking on science subjects? My advice to them is that they should discard the stereo type that sciences are for boys or men only. And also they should develop a passion for sciences as it will help them tackle various issues that they may be facing in their daily life using skills acquired from sciences. What was your experience of the Tech Mentor-ship programme at Silicon Valley? The Silicon Valley experience surpassed my expectations; Before joining the programme I always had a wish to see what it is like to work with people who invented the tools and product that we use in our daily work. I was keen to learn strategies and business modeling methodologies that big tech companies use in conceiving products responding to the need of the community worldwide. I also wanted to gain more insight and inspiration about entrepreneurship skills and challenges. I visited Tech giants’ tech companies such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, Mozilla, Microsoft in the Bay area and I got exposed to their working environment and this equipped me with skills to apply in the community back home. Having the opportunity to spend 5 weeks with more than 78 emerging leaders (entrepreneurs, technologist, and scientists) from the middle east and Africa, and more that 150 mentors with a diversity of Technology field experience including software development, Aerospace, engineering, hacking and Intellectual property among others to me was a life-changing experience. It was an opportunity to discover my strength and weakness, being criticized and discovering what to improve dramatically changed my understanding of technology and how to use that for a good cause, not just for personal profit. How did it change the way you perceived science and ICTs after the training? The experience made me believe that everything is possible and technology is not only about technical aspects, it is instead about what your product will overcome in your market. Any challenges you encountered? The only challenge I encountered was to familiarise myself with the environment and the culture. I was really impressed to see people embracing team work and having passion with what they do. *** Winnie Ngamije is also among those who have benefited from the programme. She shares her experience below. What was your experience like at the Tech mentor-ship programme at Silicon Valley? I was hosted by Symantec Corporation in Mountain View, CA, and I had the opportunity to see how big tech and security companies work, how they encourage their employees to innovate by organising competition events, where groups of employees will work on something that they think will benefit them or the company and winners will receive different prizes. I would strongly recommend that companies here in Rwanda do the same. TechWomen experience provided me with great skills and knowledge in leadership and entrepreneurship and a great opportunity to connect with successful women. It will help me bring positive change in my community. How did it change the way you perceived science and ICT? I thought the huge gap between men and women in the sciences field was only high in other parts of the world but not in the Silicon Valley. But it wasn’t the case. Any challenges you encountered? The main challenge was that I had so many things I wanted to learn but not enough time. On February 3 about 40 women representatives from 20 leading Silicon Valley based tech companies in the United States will in Rwanda to share their experiences. How do you think the meeting of Silicon Valley women will impact girls and women? I think that one of the reasons why we have a huge gap between men and women in the sciences field is the lack of women role models from that field. Bringing those women role models from Silicon Valley will encourage and inspire girls to pursue their studies or careers in the sciences field. What is your advice to young girls regarding taking on science subjects? My advice is if you are interested in science but people around you keep telling you that it is hard or it is a me’s thing, please don’t listen to that, just do it, work hard and prove them wrong.