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14 June 2010
Fostering Black Women Technologists Worldwide
By Allison Bland
This past weekend on Mother's Day, United States President Barack Obama gave the graduation speech at Hampton University, a small historically Black college in the state of Virginia. The speech heavily invoked notions that concern all people of the Diaspora – freedom, opportunity, and technology.
Obama stated, “Your education has honed your research abilities, sharpened your analytical powers, given you a context for understanding the world. Those skills will come in handy... But now that your minds have been opened, it's up to you to keep them that way.”
He spoke further about the need for African-Americans to view technology not just as a means for entertainment, but also for emancipation. Speaking on this topic on a day that recognized both women and intellectual growth, Obama echoed many of the sentiments spoken by Betty Makoni of the Zimbabwe based Girl Child Network just one day earlier.
Ms. Makoni is a renowned activist with a vision of global connectedness through education. She realized setting her sights on technology was not just an African concern while on a trip to Florida.
She wants to eliminate the obstacles that prevent 80% of rural girls from attending primary school in Zimbabwe (and so killing the potential for 80% of women to go onto manufacturing, technology, university and so on) in the same way Obama seeks to address the low ranking of 8th grade African American students in the subject areas of math and science. There has got to be significant shifts in these foundations, and it has to begin with young people.
Ms. Makoni recently spoke to Munashe Gumbonzvanda from TechMasai.com about the intersection of gender inequality and technology.
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Ms. Makoni is interested in moving past being the “end users of technology.” She does not want girls to know cell phones and know laptops and not know the software. She wants girls to be able to appreciate all the components of these systems and to be involved in the integral stages of technology. Makoni, like Obama, is pushing the idea of being producers of technology, not just consumers.
Women are involved in many manual tasks throughout Africa but because of these routines they often do not have adequate time to devote to studies of mathematics and sciences. These are the areas of study they need in order to bring about analog improvement. It is Makoni's belief that by empowering knowledge and critical skills in primary school, women will begin to affect all processes creatively - including the chores like cooking, ironing, and farming which presently consume so much time and energy. She says, “If we instill the technological thinking, we can have as many women in technology in the future as we want.”
Ms. Makoni believes in the benefits of being a force internationally. Resources can be shared because the goal is the same, especially in these communities where technological progress is lagging. There is potential in the rural villages of Zimbabwe just as there is belief in Hampton, Virginia.
“So my vision is that: out of a teacher, out of a rural woman, out of a poor woman, something great can emerge... My story has inspired women, even in America where people think their world is solved, and they don't suffer as much we suffer, to also break silence on the stories we share. The stories are on Facebook.”