During the graduation of 23 mobile programming students at the mLab in Nairobi, it was a peculiar scene as only four females represented women in tech.
These scenarios have been replicated all over from the grants and hackathon competitions we have seen in the past: Men always dominate them.
“Women feel intimidated,” Caroline Muchai, a graduate at MLab’s training told HumanIPO. “It is hard to be accepted in the tech scene.”
Caroline Muchai is one of the few ladies flying the flag of women in tech. She went through the training with three of her colleagues. She says she knows she has what it takes to make it in tech.
Caroline has developed a mobile polling system. Users will be able to answer questions about various issues including politics.
“MobiPolls is an app that will help get opinions from citizens on the oncoming general elections,” Caroline said. She hopes to launch the application before the next general elections.
Prof Peter Waiganjo from the University of Nairobi, School of Computing and Informatics commented said that in the universities, the girls perform “quite well” in information and technology studies but when it comes to applying it, they opt to work in “softer sides of tech.”
“It’s not easy to programme,” Caroline admits. However, this isn’t any excuse to scare ladies in pursuing careers in the tech scene. We hope to see more ladies taking up the challenge like Caroline.
