The Impact of Women Learning to Code in Developing Countries: Benefits and Challenges
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DjangoCon US 20168 / 52
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:00
I'm really happy to be here. And we'll be talking about the impact
00:20
of involving women in technology in developing countries. Any woman in the house? Hey, guys. Give it up. Give it up for all the women in the house. So I'm Aisha, and it's a real pleasure to be here to share the stage with Ibrahim and to talk about the impact learning to have on women and their communities as a whole.
00:44
So I'm Ibrahim, currently living in Montreal, but I'm also originally from Senegal, Niger, not Nigeria, and Mauritania. So if you guys have any goal to achieve regarding diversity in the conference, you just call me, and it'll be set. So we, last year, I attended a jungle girls event
01:04
in Bilbao. And I spoke about this journey at Python Namibia, which happened earlier this year, which is, by the way, the second official Python conference in Africa, the first one being Python ZD, South Africa. During that event, I helped organize Django Girls Windhoek
01:22
and also doubled as a coach and went ahead to organize Django Girls Lagos events in Nigeria. So I must say that during that conference in Windhoek, we had awesome talks and presentation, but the highlight for me was that Django Girl workshop.
01:41
So just feeling that I was there helping and teaching somebody to code was worth the two-day trip from Montreal to Windhoek. The highlight for me, though, is how during my first encounter with Python and Django, the enthusiasm, the awesomeness, the feeling that I had finally discovered myself.
02:02
And I was going ahead to help many more women experience this life-changing, all-encompassing event of teaching a girl like me how to code. According to statistics, women are a little bit more than 50% of the entire African population.
02:22
Because of historic and social reasons, women are excluded from many sectors, including technology. In a society where we have more women than the men, how come women are often underrepresented in the workforce, even more so technology? Let's face it. Third world countries are the part of the world
02:43
with the highest growth rate. But in order to maintain that growth rate, there is a need for more innovation and more creation. That means involving more people and increasing the number of women in the workforce. Not involving women would mean keeping us from nearly half of the population's potential.
03:04
So involving more women will contribute to the growth and the development of a country. Just imagine in Africa the potential this has. This means that in communities, women can actually go ahead to solve their immediate problems, which are not limited to poverty, lack of electricity, or clean water.
03:24
So she said actually more than 50% of the population is not considered now. I don't know about you, but I find it to be very catastrophic, especially for developing countries where now is the time that actually they need as many qualified people as they can have.
03:42
So how can we get from where we used to be to where you wanna be? I'm gonna start by addressing some current challenges. In most developing countries, this is a known fact that access to reliable internet is a luxury for many. And even when it's not a luxury,
04:00
you find out that you're in an area that you can afford it, but you're in an area where you don't have network coverage. Also, we also know that in some traditions, you still have cases where boys are actually giving more priority than ladies when it comes to going to even basic elementary education.
04:20
There is also a common misconception that comes with most people feeling like if you wanna get good software, if you wanna get the best of it, you should be willing to pay quite a good amount of money for it. But we know that, or I know that some of the best things in life actually come free.
04:42
Yeah, so this is no disrespect to any company, but instead of a Windows OS, you have awesome things like the lineup distribution or instead of Microsoft Office, there is the open office, there is an alternative which is free. And this is great news for developing countries where the money or the funds are not readily available
05:02
in the first place. Having said that, we as a people need to be more creators than users of technology. In Africa, we have a lot of early adopters of technology and this, for some reason, doesn't encourage people
05:22
to necessarily go under the hood and find out how this technology works. So for example, if I knew how things work, if I knew how things work under the hood, I would be better equipped to teach more people how to use this technology and how to become creative instead of user.
05:41
So actually some people from a Python group in Cameroon reached out to us and they mentioned a few problem which are some ladies that are between 18 and 22 are actually more interested in learning Python or programming because they have their parents that are backing them and they don't have any financial charge
06:03
or something like that. And ladies that are over 22 would hardly even go through the course because we would actually go through the course because most of them are already having children and taking care of a family. And they go to that course to actually
06:22
give them the ability to have a fast return of income so that they can help themselves and their families. Another reason also is that some ladies are running away from classes that they don't like. So universities are offering default classes and information that they don't necessarily like and they're just running away from that and go to those groups and learn programming.
06:44
So how can we now change the narrative? We could change the narrative by organizing more and more events like this. Events like DjangoCons or PyCons contribute significantly in creating communities and making them more diverse.
07:02
Thanks to the Django diversity statements, more people are involved. So we still need to consider that there are a lot of people that we don't know actually about and we need to be aware of that, that there's a lot of people that we actually don't know. Particularly in developing countries
07:21
and this message goes especially to people living in these countries, we need to encourage people by creating stuff and letting them know that they can create stuff by their own also. Involving women implies, well, bring growth. Involving more women means increasing
07:42
the number of tech actors by 50%. So we'll always say that number 50%. This is quite a valuable number considering the technological need in developing countries. This obviously implies more and better innovation. Diversity or we can say now inclusion
08:02
brings a lot more point of views and more creativity. So here's a phrase from the Django diversity statement. We believe that amazing things happen when people from different words and worldviews approach each other and create a conversation. Technology, innovation creates development and growth.
08:25
Education is the key. Just to emphasize how much of an impact we're both trying to talk about, I would like to give a brief about the Django girls story in Nigeria. I might begin first by saying
08:42
that little green pin there is Lagos, the first one. In organizing Django Girls Lagos, it brought about the first, the official Python users group in Nigeria. It was the first gathering of the Python users group in Nigeria, which didn't exist before. So Django Girls event brought about that.
09:02
And also we had 38 women attend the Django Girls workshop. This number initially was supposed to be 30, but there was just so many amazing applications. We had to make space for more women to come and take advantage of the opportunity. And after this workshop, there's been six other workshops.
09:23
Some are gonna happen soon, some have already happened. I just want us to take a minute and look at the numbers, yeah? So if we have 38 women in Lagos and we have an average of 25 women in the six other locations where other coming Django Girls events are coming up,
09:42
that would give us 180 women from all over the country who have been directly impacted by this Django Girls movement. Meet Helen. Helen attended Django Girls Lagos in February, and she's a third year medical student.
10:02
And she went ahead to organize Django Girls in a boomer show. In our own words, my motivation for going into the tech world was to integrate technology into health, to prevent as many deaths as possible and nursing the powers of technology. I did not take this seriously until earlier this year when I attended Django Girls.
10:22
Helen now has just applied for an internship in a software development company to improve her skills so that she can achieve this dream. More impact. Meet Mercy, aka Mama Django. As she's fondly called in our school, she's a second year computer science student
10:41
and organizer of Django Girls After. And after our workshop, this was what she had to say. The workshop was successful. The girls wanted more of it. They were inspired to code. People kept asking me what next. My lecturers were impressed and they kept telling me to continue. That's what prompted me to organize a three days code camp
11:02
which will be coming up in August. I want to say thank you to Django Girls for allowing me to be a part of something wonderful. Here's a different kind of impact. Meet Tomiwa. She's a software quality and assurance analyst and now Django Girls Lagos organizer
11:21
and PyLadies Nigeria organizer. She's also looking to switch into the software development field. So after the event, this was what she had to say. After the event, I started to walk through the Django tutorials and I got a better understanding of the model view controller. This made me understand the internals
11:42
of the application I was testing and work better. I also started to check out how Python and Django can make my tests more efficient and I discovered Selenium and robot framework and voila, my testing had become much more efficient. Now these three examples goes to highlight
12:00
the different ways or the different areas the impact of a single workshop can have in the lives of that many women. It doesn't just propel them forward but it gives them the confidence to take advantage of any opportunity as it presents itself. So like I mentioned earlier,
12:22
we have some peculiar problems in Africa. Most of these problems actually come on when you're even trying to organize these events. So like the almighty internet, that is just like the basic of basic. Without it, you can't even go and start overflow or Google that answer. Ask your question, go and ask Google, things like that.
12:44
So it's a basic and it's a problem because during these workshops, we have these women trying to pull or push to GitHub, try to configure Python anywhere and without internet, there's only so much they can do. But we've also had problems
13:01
where we've had electricity issues where the power just goes out in the middle of a training and just so you guys know, some of the laptops we have back home are usually like really old and the batteries are not so amazing. We call them glorified TV sets because the moment power goes out, you just go off, right? So there's no battery power or anything.
13:22
So yeah, so imagine how frustrating that can be when you're trying to work and power just goes off. And so in trying not to have, to let many people access the internet at the same time and try to reduce the load, we preload these tutorials,
13:41
we preload the applications on the USB drive and we try to share it to everyone. So for example, there is a flash drive, I take it from Ibrahim, I take it on my computer and yeah, just so you know, we have more Windows users than maybe Mark or Linux users in this part of the world. So I'm taking this flash drive,
14:00
I'm getting these viruses on my own computer and when I'm trying to give it to someone else, I'm giving them both viruses on their own computer. So it's not sharing of love, honestly, it's just chaotic. It's not healthy. Another impending problem is that many times, these women cannot even afford computers.
14:22
They don't have computers. So they always have to go to a friend, borrow a laptop just to attend this workshop. I don't know about you, but if I have to borrow a laptop to attend the workshop, I go back home and I give this laptop back. Yeah, there are people that you're resilient and you're going to go back and borrow the laptop and many times it's possible to get cracky,
14:42
but still at the same time, it's still a problem. It's still not, these are basic necessities that shouldn't even be in the suspect. I actually experienced the same problem in the Django Girl workshop we had in Windhoek. One of the ladies didn't have a laptop, so I had to lend her mind so she can actually continue or finish the workshop.
15:03
But after that, I don't know if actually she would continue on her programming journey, right? So that's another major problem that we have. But other than negative stuff, we have positive stuff also. We have a lot of growing communities. So we're witnessing growing African Python groups
15:23
after events like Python Namibia communities like Python Zimbabwe and Python Zambia were born. And that's without counting all the Django Girls Summit that were held in different cities, a lot in Nigeria, some in Kampala. There is also a Python community in South Africa,
15:41
which can be considered as the most established one in Africa right now. They organized yearly a Python conference and this year is going to be in October six and seven in Cape Town. So you guys are all invited. And now if you wanna know stuff about like Python communities
16:01
in Africa, there is now a mailing list, Python Africa. You can register, it's open to anyone. We are actually doing our best. It's been here for six months now and we're doing our best to gather all African Python communities together so actually we can work together and do better stuff.
16:21
But you also can help, all of us can help, right? Because as tech actors, we have to adapt our products for all whether it's an event, hardware or software. There is also a need for more Django Girls or PyLadies like events. Now another interesting fact is that programming needs to be promoted differently.
16:41
When we think about programming, it is as if it has been tailored for men with glasses in front of computer or video games. So that's pretty much how I look like, right? But that's not all. An example in the University of Berkeley clearly shows that appearance is important. So by actually renaming one of their class title
17:02
from Introduction to Symbolic Programming to Beauty and the Joy of Computing, they increased female attendance by 50%. Oh, I have one. What if we named the IPython or the pink Python or the... You're using it.
17:21
I don't know about that, but yeah. Yeah, so also this, I actually, this is a Google image search for the word programmer. And you see actually what we see, it's just men's glasses, screens, computers. I will try that in .ng, the U.S., the UK,
17:40
it's just the same. Very similar, so yeah. But you know what? A programmer can also look like this. And it's not boring, is it? It's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you very much.
18:03
Thanks for a wonderful talk. When we're writing documentation or contributing to open source projects in the Django community, you mentioned an example of like just changing the title of something to make it more welcoming. Are there any resources or advice you have for us when we're writing documentation and making contributions that are maybe particular
18:23
to communities in Africa and communities featured in your talk? Yes, I've been thinking about that particularly because a lot of people are not aware that you can actually now write in traditional like local language like Hausa or Swahili or Yoruba. So when we know that we can actually contact people and ask them to contribute to documentation.
18:42
So if, for example, the Django documentation was written in Hausa, it would maybe bring more Hausa ladies or people in general. So that's one of the way to help. And also the other way to help is actually to learn about people. So it's actually when you know about people that you can customize something
19:00
so that it will be more attractive to those kind of people. So yeah, that's kind of the advice I have for that. All right, thanks so much. From your experience to the students that you teach, are they trying to augment like their education in computer science or are they trying to start new businesses
19:23
with their skills that they learn? How are they using like what they learn in your classes? So we have a little bit of both, like everyone, different kinds of women. So we have, yeah, we know most times in universities, even where you go learn computer science, you actually learn how to code on your blackboard.
19:42
I mean, there is no computer sometimes and you're printing and debugging on the blackboard. So I mean, workshops like this comes to play in helping them augment that computer science education that it kind of gets in school. And you also have women in, I mean, I don't know if you know this book,
20:01
most African women are very entrepreneurial. So most of them are trying to see how this technology can help them in their businesses. You know, I've been thinking of trying to do a website for my fashion business or my makeup or my beauty business. Yeah, so we have a lot of work actually. So I guess the follow-up question.
20:21
From entrepreneurship versus like how involved are local businesses in these workshops? Are they like helping fund or are they helping like send students to these workshops at all? Or is it more so just word of mouth? Do you mean like local entrepreneurial businesses or like businesses like companies?
20:42
Businesses like companies that are already existing. Oh, yeah. Just women that want to, you know, like start their own businesses. Funny enough, most of the people currently that I'm gonna use my experience that we've had like really come to support majorly start-up companies.
21:00
The big names and big organizations, they're not really that, maybe because it's part of the world we're in, you know. But yeah, they're not really, really responsive to. That was a nice talk. Thank you so much. My question is, when you approached all these women when they want to learn, you talk about all this problem
21:21
that they're facing when they want to learn. But have you ever encountered an attitude problem from the side of the people you're actually trying to focus on? Because even before Django Girls Initiative started and even before I was actually exposed to this programming community and the problems over there, I used to do workshops at college for students, all of them. And this is funny and I didn't understand
21:41
any of this at that point, but when I actually encouraged all of these students to come and attend a workshop, they used to be just like two or three women students, like girls students at my workshops. And one day I actually took the time to go and ask each of them, like, I sent you a personal invite, I told you this is what you're learning, I told you this is how it will be useful, why didn't you attend?
22:00
And they sort of said unanimously, they gave me the reply that, we're just here so that we can get a degree and sort of get a better husband. And that was my impression before I was exposed to all of these things, which has considerably changed. So have you ever encountered that sort of an attitude problem or how women are told that what they are learning
22:21
will help them? Yeah, actually, like I said before, this guy from Cameroon, he said that most of the ladies, they come there, while some of them are eager to learn, but most of them, they come to earn another degree or find a better job, but they don't actually understand the value of programming.
22:43
So for me, the real value of it is that you can create stuff, you can help people with that. And this is a challenge, you have to let them know that you can use programming to create stuff and to help their own selves instead of actually learning programming to find a better job, they can learn programming to find solution
23:02
to local problem, water, electricity, and so on. So yeah. So for the attitude level, you need to have that change from that point on. Yeah, even at that, you could, there is a way you can actually turn this attitude level. It's still about understanding them and what appeals to them. So it could be like, for example,
23:22
the cookbook that she has. So that is what appeals to them. So you're gonna use what they love and they better understand when you're speaking their language. The same way they have businesses and some of them do their businesses on Instagram, they use Instagram, they use Facebook, they still use technology, but they don't know that they can actually
23:41
just learn how to build their own website and do it themselves, right? So there's still, yes, the attitude problem is there, but you can still use that to understand them and tailor how you approach them. Yeah, so instead of saying, oh, come and learn how to code, I could just say, oh, want to grow your business, want to get as many internet customers as you can,
24:01
sign up and learn how to build your own website, yeah? So that could be a way. All right, thank you. Hey, so I know you mentioned in your talk that one of the big, I guess, roadblocks for, I guess, teaching Django Girls workshop is the lack of computers.
24:20
A lot of us work at companies and then after a while, like our old workstations, they either get recycled or sent some way. Is there a way for like companies, I guess, to donate their old workstations or laptops to Django Girls or your specific branch? Oh, yes, there is. There is, we should talk after this. We should talk after this.
24:41
Okay, so even during the last workshop, I did an appeal that, because then some girls emailed me and said that they had lost their laptops or they were going to borrow. I think there were like three different ladies that emailed me and I sent a Twitter campaign like just a week to the workshop. And surprisingly, someone from the Python Nigeria community had two laptops from their company
25:02
and just brought it and gave it to them. I actually wrote about it in the blog post. It brought tears to these ladies' eyes. Like you don't know what it means to have a laptop. It's a big deal. Many of us can't take it for granted, but it's a big deal and it's a really good, long way. So yes, if your company's got laptops, please. There are lots and loads of people who need them back
25:22
in developing countries like Nigeria. Thank you. Thanks for your talk. For those of us who have Python and Django communities near us, it's easy to be involved, but for those of us who aren't physically on the African continent, what are some ways that we can contribute
25:42
to helping enhance women and people in general in Africa learn to program and enhance their programming skills? What are the things that we can do to contribute even if we're not physically in Africa? Actually, that's my case. I'm living in Montreal. So for me, one of the good things to do is participate in local events or to encourage local Django girls or Python events locally
26:04
and also to talk about these things. So making people aware that there are other programmers elsewhere on the planet. Yeah, and you could also support us. Like, you know, you could want to, for example, we're trying to do this mentorship thing where girls have mentors,
26:21
but you know, they can also connect with mentors that are not within Nigeria. So if you'd like to mentor, it's awesome, it should. If your company has got a laptop, you know, they're using, please send it over. It's a different way, actually, yeah. Thank you.
26:43
Okay.