Gender diversity in the ICT industry is not where it should be, not internationally, and not locally.
While there is some excellent work being undertaken in pockets, the female representation imbalance in the South African ICT sector is not being redressed anywhere near quickly enough. The problem is institutional, where young women are turning away from studying STEM subjects and thus the pipeline of women coming into the tech industry is insufficient.
To alter this, there needs to be a change in attitudes. We need to show girls and young women that a career in technology and IT is not only possible, but also financially rewarding and fulfilling; that they have a place in the world of ICT, even if it seems like a hostile environment, dominated by men, mostly. To achieve this, they need to see role models they can look up to; they need to see more women succeeding in this field, especially women who look like them and come from similar backgrounds.
For the past three years, the Wired4Women Tech Forum has been dedicated to increasing female representation in the tech industry. This association of influential female leaders from vendor and end-user organisations has made significant strides in growing a community of women fostering connections and providing guidance, mentorship and training opportunities. It is now stepping up its efforts with the launch of its own awards programme.
The Wired4Women Awards programme is run in partnership with ITWeb Brainstorm and aims to recognise the diverse impact of women across the IT field – from CIOs to tech company leaders, entrepreneurs, rising stars and students.
Nomonde White-Ndlovu, CIO of Bidvest Bank and chair of the Wired4Women Tech Forum, says: “The technology sector remains one of the most impactful industries in the world because it changes lives for the better – technological advances have improved education, accelerated economic development and impacted the health sector through the use of robotics. There are many women who are charting new frontiers in this space and it remains important to ensure that we improve and nurture female representation within the technology sector.”
White-Ndlovu says the Wired4Women Awards serve as a platform to celebrate remarkable women working in SA’s tech sector, recognise their outstanding achievements and inspire future generations. “We want our daughters to grow up in a world where they can be whoever they want to be, but you can’t be what you can’t see. They need the role models to aspire to and these awards aim to showcase these role models.”
Award categories
The inaugural Wired4Women Awards feature 11 categories designed to acknowledge leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, as well as community impact and talent:
- Leader of the Year
- Tech Entrepreneur
- Top Tech Innovator
- Tech for Good
- IT Business Development Executive
- Rising Star in Security
- Rising Star in Cloud
- Rising Star in Coding
- Top Tech Student
- Mentor of the Year
- Trailblazer
The judging panel, including Wired4Women board members, ITWeb senior editors and other senior industry representatives, will determine the winners, who will be announced at a gala event on 22 May 2024.
Ssubmit your nominations today! Visit: https://www.itweb.co.za/event/wired4women-awards-2024/
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