Mind the skills gender equity gap

"This," said Evelyn Naidoo, CEO of Rigatech, "serves the dual purpose of building human capital and uplifting the economy. Technology is still a male-dominated industry and South Africa needs to build its skills to be effective within the global economy. Investing in the growth of previously disadvantaged females will help level the gender equity gap as well as providing much-needed resources to the sector."

South Africa's skills shortages are widely regarded as a key factor hindering economic growth. The rarity of specialised skills, combined with the changing dynamics and requirements of the industry, are exacerbating the problem. The ICT sector is largely regarded as one of the key drivers of the South African economy and has been identified as a key focus areas by the South African government as a result.

An ongoing dialogue

The issue of skills availability and development, particularly with regards to gender equity, is an ongoing dialogue where every stakeholder has a vested interest in changing the status quo, said Naidoo. "Not only is the low participation of women in IT a problem for women, but also for the industry and the country as a whole. A country cannot compete in an increasingly global market if half of its talented citizens are not participating. Addressing this imbalance in order to ensure full participation of women in ICT is crucial."

She added that while the gender equity gap has improved over the past decade, increasing the number of technologically trained women is still essential. "In 2002, women accounted for only 9% of all directors in South Africa and 21% of management. This trend was also evident in the ICT industry, where only about 20% of the ICT workforce was female. The demographics of the sector have improved, but not enough."

However, there is a growing awareness of the need to place more focus on gender equity in business. President Jacob Zuma's commitment to gender equality in this year's State of the Nation address and his reiteration of the importance of forthcoming legislation to uplift more women into decision-making roles, are indicative of this trend.

According to the 2013 Grant Thornton International Business Report on women in business, South African businesses are among the leaders when it comes to planning to hire more women this year. The report found that only 28% of senior management positions in South Africa were filled by women and that this statistic had been static since 2009.

The IT sector is still battling

"While South African business as a whole is placing more focus on this, the IT sector is still battling to fill the gender equity skills gap. The South African government has adopted a strong gender equity approach in many of its policies and implementation strategies. However, the reality is that much has to be done to encourage girls and women to pursue a career in this direction. Rigatech has been formed with this goal in mind, and takes a unique approach to solving this issue," Naidoo said.

Backed by parent company Logikal Consulting, Rigatech is presently piloting a training syllabus, which will develop and execute optimal integrated training and internship programmes to address specific ICT and business needs and skills shortages. This custom-designed process includes faculty training at Rigatech, alignment with university syllabi through student mentoring, followed by internship placement. Collaborations with a number of corporate IT organisations will have these companies providing specialist skills and mentorship incubators within their organisations.