I'm excited to be connecting with other great women in tech, which is quite an amazing thing. And so today, I'm just going to uh share my presentation on something that I'm so passionate about.And I'm really looking forward to give out the knowledge that I have and really get to connect and share the knowledge with every one of you here. So before I actually go any further, I would just like to give a brief introduction about myself. So my names go by Zoe Kanda. Um And I'm a student currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Information technology. And also I'm a founder of Broad Code Zambia, which is an organization that has really birth to boost our female participation in technology. So uh it's it, I know everyone has acquainted themselves with knowledge about coding. But really, I would like to briefly state why we choose coding as a skill that every girl should have today in order to break through the world of technology. So girls learning to go in a much needed step towards solving the gender gap that we have been experiencing in technology. We have a mismatch in um the representation of women, women against the men in technology and other science related programs. So, coding is uh really a step to be able to close that gender gap that we are currently experiencing and it is a a problem that continues to plug in software programming. So coding also is uh a new form of literacy.

Our award has proven that really we rely on technology with most of the activities and uh uh operations that we get to undertake on a day to day life. So people with tech related skills really have an upper hand in being able to go through the activities throughout the day. And one other thing is called Powers, our digital world. We have seen how we have so many websites, we have smartphones, we have applications on the phone, we have um my computer program. So it is just important that people get to understand the basics of coding and uh the coding language because today, most of these technologies rely on the code in order for them to operate. And then one other thing amazing about coding is that in the next 10 years, we are estimated to have um about 1.4 million jobs. And it is evident to see that uh we still have a huge gap. So there's so many employment opportunities that are have been laid down. And it would be quite an amazing thing to see that there's a balance between um the men and the women who are taking up these uh job places in the future.

So today, we even as we have seen that uh uh digitalization has been imposed in health places in education systems and financial systems. It is just important to know that people who have coding skills, who have an upper hand in being able to break through uh their careers in these areas of, of pro uh programming and coding. So we get to talk about the gender gap that I earlier mentioned. So we have um stem crews desperately need more girls and women because the statistics have proven it. So uh a research that was done by uh girls who code shows that the number of women in stem has decreased since the 19 nineties. Now, from these statistics, we're able to see that as we go forward, the number will diminish and decrease. So there's so much that needs to be done in order to keep that balance or actually raise the percentage of women who are actually getting to pursue careers in tech or who are able to, to really find their balance in in the world of technology. So uh talking about the gender gap as they have uh put the percentages computer science, females who uh the percentage of computer science females will fall from 24 to 22% by 2025.

And it is amazing that there are so many people working towards ensuring that uh this gender gap does not grow because they're doing all they can in order to close that gap and ensure that women are really uh taking up spaces in the world of technology. So just to get into it, the we have seen the gender gap has really been um growing from the statistics that I've just spoken about in the previous slide. So what could be the possible barriers to female participation? What is this that is causing women to not be able to choose uh careers in tech? So uh one of the possible reasons is that they are, there's a lot of uh female role models in tech. So this can be attributed to um something, let me just quickly share a story about um about something that I have experienced back in my country. So we have this extracurricular activity called uh the Careers Day. So we uh schools usually have these careers there to be able to ask the students or the PPS to represent themselves in a career that they would like to pursue. So this is a day where um PP US gets to present themselves and, and come dressed in what they would like to be.

So I have seen people dressed as doctors, I have seen people dressed as no others, just as teachers, others, police officers and other uh military positions that we have available, but not even a day. Have I ever seen someone dressed and having a representation of um an it person or a computer scientist. So this is really to show that these young people do not have anybody to look up to because it is evident that, uh, when young people be, uh, begin to choose a career path, they usually get to go for what they evidently see. And if they do not have anyone to look up to, it is quite hard for them to be able to, uh, take up that path in order to pursue such a career. So the other thing uh could be the misconception. So we have so many misconceptions surrounding, you know, participation in technology. So one could be that uh people perceive it to be a very hard career or a very hard program to to pursue. So with this, um it is important that we just work around uh closing the misconceptions that people really have towards technology and ensure that we have everyone supporting females who actually gets to uh make a decision to pursue a career in technology.

So for me, it's quite a similar situation when I was getting into my program, the program I'm currently studying, which is it, I had so many questions around, I mean, people asking why I did not get to pick any other interest in careers, but you just chose to um to go for technology.

And why would there be a question of why when if someone says they want to be a teacher, they'll be like, oh all the best. If they say they want to be a doctor, people will just give them all their appraisals. But why should there be questions surrounding a female who gets to uh choose to pursue a career in technology? Well, this misconception can be linked to technology being a male dominated culture, even from the statistics that you have exp I have explained in the previous life because we have more men being represented in technology. So when a female gets to look at this culture, they feel they do not have a space in it. They feel the main really gets to occupy uh the the tech space. So even it being not dominated really has become a barrier because females feel they do not have the space in the world of technology. And one other thing is also unexplained expectations today, if uh someone gets to pursue a career in tech, they people usually could perceive them to be troubleshooters or they think they are just that person who will begin fixing dead computers or someone who begin fixing uh dead gadgets, not for them to work.

But that's not the case if we really get to provide a brief and adequate explanation about what is all about and the branches that are involved in technology. I feel people really have a different approach to what they think technology is all about. It's just more than the hardware engineering. We have technology in which we could learn coding and bring digital change in the spaces that we work in. So we just go further to discover what a girl wants. Despite the barrier, the the barriers that may be surrounding their participation, there's one that could be outstanding and that is them having female role models. So it is very important for females to have someone to look up to because having a female role model is really crucial for the girls today as they are seeing themselves in someone who has already been there, someone who's who has already taken that path. So this process should start in as early as school because it is where they begin their fundamental ba their fundamentals of um getting knowledge and being able to apply it where they can. So there is a research to suggest that more women would graduate from the university with STEM program programs if they had a female uh female teacher in the subjects that were provided or offered at their schools.

So it is really important to actually get to look into providing more role models for females so that they may be able to pursue careers in tech. And also we have an interest in coding. So even as we have uh talked about the importance and what is causing the female who to take up spaces, we do have the benefit of coding. Like why should a girl to court? So coding has a great future jobs in its field because today, we have um medical people, we have financial people, we have people in the education sector because of how digital the world is becoming. It is only important that people learn the basics of coding and they learn this language so that they are able to pass through uh the workspaces in whatever field they they provided with. And then the other thing is coding has become the new literacy. So back then people who learned to read and write were able to manage most of the operations of the world. And now it's also revolving to coding. So if someone learns to code, they become the people to shift the world in which we live in. So they have that coding knowledge. And if it's anything to do with uh digital operations, they have the hands on information about it and they are able to uh to provide where they can.

And then one other thing is that coding makes people the architectures and the builders of the digital age. So whatever digital improvement and evolving, evolving we're seeing today. It is because the people who have mastered the language of coding are the ones who are able to bring change and also enable things to move forward as they should in the digital space. And then so we have talked about um the importance of coding and now it is also coal that we know how exactly to give this opportunity to girls. How exactly are we going to make coding accessible because today, the only places you can find coding are in probably tech hubs or just a Nongovernmental organization, what's in the need for people to learn coding? And there is nothing much more than that. So uh we will talk about the school being a crucial part of exposure. Like uh if, if, if coding begins in schools, it is very important that this knowledge and interest into the students when the moment they just begin. And then the other thing is having mandatory recording classes at school can be a way to change the situation.

So if we keep coding as an option with the many misconceptions that surround it, it is evident that people might not opt for um for the for the coding lessons because they feel it is not their thing, they feel it is not their space. So if they made it mandatory, I feel uh people will have, the girls would have this choice to be able to learn. They have no option because it has been put as simply mandatory. So they just ought to learn. And probably in the learning process, they'll be able to discover in what way they're able to break through in the world of technology. And they begin to uh it enables them to begin learning to go to code at an early age. Then the other thing is educating the community about technology because people have seen technology as um more negativity to it than positivity as this should not be the case. So if people goes to understand the benefits of technology, I feel it is also going to be something that is going to benefit the world in being able to ensure that more girls actually be taking their space in the world of technology and then into court. Then the lastly and then lastly introducing code in a fun where girls want to have fun. So if coding is brought to them as the degree programs that we get the undergraduate and postgraduate, it's going to be uh quite in a formal way.

And that is what would make it feel so complicated. But if you work coding in a fun way, they begin to learn in ways that are more appealing to them, ways that they feel are more interesting, then it's going to be quite um a good deal to be able to enable girls to pursue their interest in learning to code. So even as we want to bring coding into the lives of girls, we have motivation behind it. We know the importance of coding, we have seen how exactly it can impact their lives and how exactly it can change their current spending. It is important to also uh know that we grab motivation. So on my end, I just uh during my research, I was so inspired by some of the courses that I have just um displayed on the screen. So Uh Linda Lucas uh says the literacy over 21st century is what coding is and the need for people to speak to ABC of programming is eminent. So this is motivation enough to ensure that we actually begin to boost female participation in learning to code in technology at large. And our world is increasing, easily run by software and we need more diversity in the people who are building it.

More importantly, writing software is about expression, creativity and practical application, as stated by the I BT Times of the IB times of UK. So this also is uh very cardinal and brings so much motivation to know that it's not always about um uh learning the structures and learning the fundamentals, but it's also about expression and creativity and practical application. Whenever you learn according language, you know how exactly it can be applied in order to encourage or to um to bring change in a community in the world at large. And then lastly, our kids should learn to bend join break and combine code in a way it wasn't designed to, it's a whole generation of kids that will use code like other generation used to build words. So like I mentioned in the previous slides, those people who were able to read and write, were able to run things were able to run the world. So today, if um our kids knew how to write codes, they could be in the forefront, driving technology and being the creators and not only the consumers.

So uh with that mentioned as uh women tech and with, with their goal to um to engage 100,000 women into, into tech, it's important that we have a call to action. What are we doing in order to ensure that the people uh who are coming after us also have an a need and uh interest in technology. So there is no doubt that our world relies on technology and in the future really, it is something that will really grow and the need for programming is also going to go vastly. So firstly, teaching the basics is what our course of action would be. So we should ensure that we have the passion to also impart knowledge in these young people who might have who are potential um carriers of, of uh growing the world of technology. We also have a culture of action aspi and teachers that we should strive to equip uh these young people with the best tools possible that they need in order to build uh to boost their interest in technology. And also give them an upper hand in naming all the the programming languages they need and all the tech related knowledge that will enable them to pass through the world of uh this digital age.

And then lastly, we have a call to become role models to the next girl. So even as we are working, we might not know who we are inspiring. These young people need someone to look up to. So it is also as important to be a role model. Personally, I have taken a pledge to be able to be a role model to the person or the next girl who is coming behind because I did not have a role to, to guide me through the world of technology. And it really was a challenge in in my journey. So I just feel I want to be that woman, a young girl can look up to and say if she can pursue technology, I too can pursue technology in a way that she did or even better. So it is so important that we boost uh this engagement and interest of girls in technology. So with that said, we then as we are uniting 100,000 women in take, it is also important that we look at the people who we will call women in the next few years and be able to prepare them for the digital age that we have created for ourselves. So thank you so much for that presentation for listening and for being with me to the end in the