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Previous artcleAn equal byte
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What’s the connection between voice commands that can’t be recognised, airbags that kill rather than save, artificial hearts too heavy for the chests they were meant for, and a quarter of the people who hold tech jobs? The answer: women.
4IR, global watershed though it is, is not necessarily changing everything for everybody in the same way. While there are certainly global inequities in access to technology, within these inequalities is another universal disparity – the disparity between men and women as agents, workers and contributors in the world of tech.
Voice commands, for example, were first developed by men with men in mind. For decades, airbags were designed for male rather than female bodies, and artificial hearts couldn’t fit in the thoracic cavities of women. Worldwide, only around 25% of tech workplaces are filled by women.
In developing countries, the economic difficulties in getting an education are felt by many, but mostly by young girls.
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION
In developing countries, the economic difficulties in getting an education are felt by many, but mostly by young girls. They often have to miss school because they lack sanitary towels, have to struggle twice as hard to make their voices heard, and have to overcome deep-seated cultural and historical prejudices and customs. They’re certainly last in line to obtain an education in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.
And that’s one of the critical things that UJ wants to change, because it knows that as long as these basic educational rights and opportunities aren’t granted to girls, there will be a dearth of women in the technical world. And that means an inherent imbalance that not only denies half the population a role in the future, but also denies everyone the possibility of benefitting from their talent.
UJ understands that if true African participation in the development of 4IR is to be meaningful and relevant, it is going to have to find ways of encouraging, first and foremost, the participation of women. Education plays a critical role in this process.
UJ’s fourth Cloudebate™ of 2020 deals with exactly this issue. The Cloudebates™ draw together key experts to discuss a range of topics relating to 4IR and are available on UJ’s 4IR website.
