From Support to Core: Women, youth and people with disabilities participation in the ICT value chain

By Sonwabise Mzinyathi, Acting Chair: SA Women in ICT Forum

The under representation of women, youth and more especially people with disabilities in the ICT sector cannot be underestimated. We have to be deliberate and intentional about the targeted approach we are taking to ensure the active participation of this group in the digital economy.  

Statistics that come from various transformation reports including the B-BBEE ICT Sector Council’s Annual Monitoring Report are underwhelming to say the least. As a sector, we struggle to meet even the bare minimum, it can’t be that as a country with the history that we have, we are still talking about inequality as opposed to acting towards systematic solutions to diversity, equity and inclusion in order to deliver technology innovations that will ultimately form the basis of the Capable4IR Army levels that we seek attain.

 Over and over again, you hear from companies how they struggle to find SMMEs to join their supply chain, struggle to find women for technical roles, the youth is always being developed – never ready – and as result, we get further and further away from achieving our transformation targets. 

The Leaky Pipeline Report by Syson Kunda from the Ping Academy in partnership with the Black IT Forum, SA Women in ICT Forum and Precisional Growth reflects that there are more men compared to women reported in technical roles in the IT workforce and that generally, roles such as computer systems designers, analysts and computer programmers in the IT workforce in South Africa are reserved for men; with only an estimated 23.93% of women employed as computer programmers. 

The report also shows that there are more men in leadership positions in the ICT sector in South Africa. Only 26.92% women were in leadership roles in ICT in 2020. What’s more, is that even junior roles are mostly occupied by men. Only 18% of women are doing AI research in South Africa, 24% are in Cybersecurity, and only 19% are in managerial roles. What is even more disheartening is the fact that only 17% of ICT students are female.

 A report by Siemens revealed that the adoption of digitalisation in industrial sectors, ranging from transport to manufacturing, could potentially add R4 trillion to the African economy by 2026 – all of which are industries that will be fully enabled by ICT. The report highlights that South Africa, because of its bulging youth population, has the highest potential to drive this innovation. Many of our youth; however, are feeling despondent and discouraged by the seemingly lack of opportunities, support such as sponsored enterprises and even when they do innovate, their innovations fall into the ether.

 ICTs are tools through which young people can substantially contribute to, participate in and leverage their social and economic development. Connected to each other like never before because of technology, young people want to contribute to their communities, propose innovative solutions and drive social progress and change. As early adopters of ICTs, young people are uniquely placed to harness the power of digital technologies in new and imaginative ways. However, youth participation in the ICT value chain remains low. In 2019, 58% of our youth were unemployed. In Diepsloot alone, sits a staggering 52% youth unemployment rate.

 The potential for ICTs to support youth development and to drive inclusive participation by women and people with disabilities is significant but for many across our country, it remains a theory; mainly because of five main reasons:

 First, Connectivity. A first access barrier for using ICTs is connectivity or the lack thereof. In many rural areas, the basic infrastructure for ICT access is not yet present.

 Second, Awareness. Even if there is basic access and connectivity, not everyone understands what a mobile phone or the internet can do for them, how to use a mobile phone for something other than a phone call and a text, the kinds of information and services that can be accessed or delivered through a mobile phone or over the internet, or how this information can be used to improve lives and livelihoods. Many people in our country, especially those living in rural areas may not have ever heard of some of the mobile applications people living in the cities use on a daily basis. The unfortunate trust is that many people in our country know of the internet but have never used it. 

Third, Affordability. The combined cost of a handset, airtime, mobile data services, charging and electricity is infamously high in South Africa, especially for those living under $2 a day.

 Fourth, Relevance. Information and content that we make available is not always consumable either in language or user-experience, wording being masculine, and people with disabilities are often not catered for. This is why it is important to have diverse teams.

 And lastly Attainability. Even if the other barriers to access have been resolved, socio-economic and cultural issues such as gender discrimination or negative attitudes about women, youth, and people with disabilities impact on the effective use of ICTs.

 These barriers mean that many youth, people with disabilities and women are not able to make full use of the potential of ICTs for their own development and when we do drive efforts towards changing this narrative, we continue to be presented with solutions such as low-level technical roles, non-strategic support and not to mention the perpetual training.

 This has to change. 

 In their speeches during the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies’ Budget Vote Addresses, we heard from both the Minister and Deputy Minister interventions that are currently being implemented to fast track the inclusive growth of the sector and more specifically policy directives that will propel the participation of women, youth and people with disabilities. 

Further, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies posits that together with its agencies, various opportunities for women, youth and people with disabilities are in fact being prioritised. For example, the Department’s ICT SMME Development Strategy aims to facilitate effective entry and participation of youth, women and people with disabilities into the mainstream ICT sector and as digital entrepreneurs. Further, the Department has committed to ensure that 40% of procurement spend is allocated to SMMEs. In addition, through various interventions, the B-BBEE ICT Sector Council will soon publish the Amended ICT Sector Code which will provide for 50% target procurement from majority Black owned suppliers, an increase from 40%.

It is now up to us as industry, to ensure that we too are playing our part to implement tangible deliverables to ensure that women, youth and people with disabilities are afforded, not just participation in the ICT Value Chain, but equitable economic participation.