MOGADISHU, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Somalia marked the International Girls in ICT Day on Thursday with the launch of an initiative to create gender parity in the country's ICT industry.
The event which was organized by Fursad.so, a local organization working to promote education in Somalia, in partnership with Research and Education Network (SomaliREN) and Ministry of Post, Telecom and Technology, sought to highlight the challenges faced by girls in ICT.
Abdulkadir Mohamed, Fursad.so manager, said in a statement released in Mogadishu that out of the 1,233 ICT graduates in 2017 from 23 universities across Puntland, GalMudug, SouthWest, Benadir, Jubbaland and HirShabelle, only 9 percent were female.
Mohamed, who presented a survey conducted on the total number of women graduates in ICT, added that the few women who managed to graduate despite hardships face stereotypes and discrimination in accessing the scarce job opportunities.
Speaking during the occasion, Abdi Ashur Hassan, the Minister of Post, Telecom and Technology, expressed concern about the figures of women graduates in ICT and the challenges they face in employment.
Hassan said he could see these facts at the Ministry as women with ICT background form less than 1 percent of the total ministry staff and cannot help because of the freeze.
"As charity begins at home, we will start from our ministry, but we will also partner with other institutions, such as the academia and the private sector, including telecoms, to address these challenges at a national level," said Hassan.
The minister said he believes that young girls are incredible innovators who can come up with solutions to many of the problems we have if they are provided the right tools and environment.
He acknowledged that with the successes made in the Communications Act and domain name, dotSO management and the increasing penetration of fiber internet in major cities, ICT will be one of the fastest growing fields in the years to come, offering some of the highest paid and most exciting careers.
"We are working to open the door to a career in technology to as many young women as possible. We can teach girls and women to love technology and use it for their life, such as health, education, finance, etc. and encourage them to pursue ICT as a suitable career. Together we can empower the next generation of women to thrive in ICT," he noted.
Safiya Abshir who completed her computer science degree three years ago said the challenges women graduates face in the ICT sector are more than other sectors in Somalia.
She said lack of ICT labs and internships, as well as disconnection between the courses offered at universities and the skills needed in the local market, make their education irrelevant.
