[Music]
Meryem is 7 years old
she’s a bright and spirited girl she has
two brothers and they like to play
together lots Miriam has dolls she has
doll houses
she has sewing kits and the kitchen
since her brothers have robots they have
construction sets they have very cool
cars they have video games they like to
play together but Merriam’s brothers
absolutely refuse to play with any of
Miriam’s toys so they always end up
playing with their toys Miriam doesn’t
mind though in fact she secretly likes
it she gets higher scores than them on
the video games
she makes crystals from the science kits
and uses it to make earrings and
necklaces for herself she builds higher
towers than they do and her robots can
do far more complex things than theirs
she thinks that maybe when she gets
older she would like to have a job where
she can build cool things all day long
everyone sells Miriam do that she isn’t
ladylike enough that she needs to play
with more ladylike games
Miriam totally ignores them and
continues to play with her brothers but
as time goes on she plays with them less
and less until eventually she stops
playing with them altogether now Miriam
is 14 years old she still gets good
marks in her math science and computer
classes but Miriam no longer thinks of
becoming an engineer a computer
scientist or anything remotely related
to technology Miriam could have come up
with an innovation that could save lives
change the world that we live in today
make great impacts in the area of
agriculture health education
but Miriam doesn’t see a place for
herself in technology anymore so
unfortunately we’ll never know the
fantastic things that Miriam and other
girls like her could have come up with
that is the problem in Nigeria
and in many parts of the world today
we’re trying to improve lives of our
citizens and build up our economies but
we’re only playing with half of our team
okay
uh-huh so these are my parents I grew up
as the daughter of two engineers my
father was an electrical engineer and my
mother a civil engineer and that’s one
of the issues we have with technology so
my mom was the smartest person that I
knew well my dad was well but my mom
very smart she graduated top of her
class when she studied engineering she
was one of just two women in a class of
a hundred
she was called back after she graduated
by her university to start a doctoral
program and she graduated as the first
Nigerian woman with a PhD in civil
engineering from a Nigerian versity my
father an electrical engineer he was the
ultimate techie
he was always bringing in one device or
the other we would have like a pacman
game I don’t know how many of you know
pac-man Nintendo Gameboy we had our very
first personal computer with the
earliest version of Windows installed in
its then he would gather my siblings and
I together so we could on our over the
Sinise’s device he didn’t discriminate
between his son and his daughters and he
would teach us how to use it I didn’t
really think much of the way my parents
raised me until I was much older and I
realized that the way they had pushed us
and loved us and encouraged us had given
us wings to fly now I I was good in
maths and I was I was shy or very quiet
I was very analytical I didn’t know
exactly what I wanted to do as a career
but I I wanted to find my own path in
life I didn’t want to study engineering
I didn’t want to be the engineers
daughter who became an engineer so I
studied economics because it would use
the maths that I liked so I went on
applied for
degree in economics oh I want to pause
this okay so before I started University
I started I went to computer school and
that was when I learned how to write
programs I learned how to code and it
was such an eye-opener because for the
first time I could tell a computer what
to do and it was such a thrill then I
started to get an idea of the power of
computers to change our lives and if
you’re lucky make some money too so
after I finished my degree in economics
I went on for a master’s in information
systems and then a postgraduate
certificate in Applied Sciences when I
was studying I was also volunteering as
well I volunteered in women’s shelters
where I was teaching women who had left
abusive relationships and marriages how
to use computers basic computer literacy
but I saw how they leveraged their new
skills to get jobs that they previously
did not qualify for I saw how they were
now supporting their families with the
money that they were earning so I saw
that technology was truly a bridge with
which the disempowered could lift
themselves out of poverty and
powerlessness I was very interested in
how women in particular could leverage
technology now so I I was I was
wondering as I was trying to get more
women using technology I realize how few
women there were who actually creating
technology and I wondered why women use
a lot of technology if they have access
to it and they have the time to use it
but a lot of the tools were using
actually developed by men the problem
starts actually from our education you
find that in Nigeria the statistics show
that of the total number of graduates of
engineering and technology each year
only 22 percent are women
that means that we have only 22% of them
going into IT workforce now research
also shows that within the first 10
years of working most of those women the
dropouts they leave the workplace that
means that you have very few women who
actually reaching the top in technology
companies so when a girl like Miriam who
we met earlier looks at the technology
landscape she doesn’t see anyone who
looks like her and she feels that there
is not a place for me in technology the
research actually backs this up it shows
that up to the age of 11 to 12 girls are
interested in boys in technology in
maths and Sciences but something happens
after that that is when they actually
starts to take in the messages that
society is sending them that technology
is not for you so one thing that I do is
I try to attract more girls into
technology I do this by organizing
technology camps residential camps
after-school clubs we found over the
years about 36 percent of the girls
we’ve worked with are actually going in
for Science and Technology degrees I
admit that I was hoping to see big and
faster results but making change takes
time we found that there are five things
that you need to do I mean to make
technology more accessible for young
girls number one you need to start early
if you want to change mindsets you need
to start early so we started working
with girls who are age 11 but we’ve
since expanded through primary school
you need to make your classes you need
to make them fun and engaging and show
girls that they can actually be
technology creates us not just users
find out what they’re interested in when
you find out what you’re interested in
then you can actually tie that in with
technology and let them see how they can
their they can develop something online
through their interest so we had a group
of girls for instance who creates it and
app so give fashion advice based on
different body types we had another
group of girls who created an app see
reports incidences of rape and sexual
violence because that was something that
they had personal experiences with then
the second thing is that ideally make
the classes of the sessions female only
I know that we don’t live in a world
that is filled with just women but the
research has also shown that for girls
especially girls of a certain age they
feel more comfortable when they’re among
all the girls and I’m sure a lot of the
women can relate
you can make your mistakes you can ask
your questions without worrying about
how you look in front of others the
third point is that you need to connect
the girls with menses positive female
role models if a girl like Miriam had
looked out and seen a woman working in
technology she could have thought yeah
this is something for me this is
something that I can do the fourth
points that we realized is that we need
to build a community of intelligent
ambitious women who can support each
other and I feel that’s also part of
what this platform is all about because
even though they’re men and women here
we’re a community of people who are
supporting each other we are telling our
stories and where we are here to share
and help each other in whatever way we
can
and same thing with the girls it’s very
important
this is particularly crucial because if
you want to close a gap it’s not just
enough to attract more girls to say oh I
think I’d like to study technology or
computer science you need to actually
keep them in the field they need to stay
the course a woman who is in technology
is usually the only woman in her class
in her team and her departments maybe
even in her company so they need to be
able to connect with other women and
supportive men who have had like
successful careers so they can say okay
it’s possible it’s doable I can do this
if they can do it soon and then one the
fifth strategy that we found out is that
it’s important to connect
with work experience so that they can
see that what they’re learning is not
just book knowledge but is actually
solving real problems this is Sophia she
attended a technology camp that we
organized when she was 13 years old at
the time she had just a passing interest
in technology but afterwards she was so
fired up that she came returned and she
was out teaching girls to design
websites to build games and create
mobile apps
this is delaqua she attended the camp
when she was 12 pretty young she was
throwing this picture and she also came
back and was she returned to further
editions of the camp to teach girls they
both gave back today dalek was studying
medicine with a minor in computer
science and Sophia’s is studying
computer science at legal State
University I’m happy that both of them
have committed to a career in technology
but they still have a long road ahead
and if the road ahead that is much
harder if we want to close this gap I
think that first spark of interest is
good but we need to follow it up by
showing girls that they truly do have a
place in technology and we need to hold
their hand and support them for as long
as they need it so parents I would say
don’t shower your girls with gifts of
dolls and kitchen sets while you let
your sons have the very cool gifts of
robots and toy cars you can give your
daughters the dolls and the robots
because if you give her only the dolls
and the kitchen sets what you’re telling
her is that her future options are
limited to cooking and caring for others
so this is my daughter
wammy she’s two years old anyone who
knows had news that she’s boy
old she’s audacious she is she’s very
very smart and she’s inquisitive those
are all good characteristics to do well
in technology right now as you can see
she’s already a lover of technology
she likes to take my phone and my
tablets but she is still just a user of
technology but you can be sure that
knowing what I know and the experiences
that I’ve had I’m going to encourage her
to learn how to code create and to build
technology I want mommy Miriam and all
other girls like her who likes to use
technology who are interested maybe in
math and sciences to keep up that love
and hopefully in the future they can
join a generation of women who are
creating innovation that’s changing
lives I would like all of us to work
together to build a bridge where we can
see a future that men and women are
working together and are equal players
in technology thank you
Meryem is 7 years old
she’s a bright and spirited girl she has
two brothers and they like to play
together lots Miriam has dolls she has
doll houses
she has sewing kits and the kitchen
since her brothers have robots they have
construction sets they have very cool
cars they have video games they like to
play together but Merriam’s brothers
absolutely refuse to play with any of
Miriam’s toys so they always end up
playing with their toys Miriam doesn’t
mind though in fact she secretly likes
it she gets higher scores than them on
the video games
she makes crystals from the science kits
and uses it to make earrings and
necklaces for herself she builds higher
towers than they do and her robots can
do far more complex things than theirs
she thinks that maybe when she gets
older she would like to have a job where
she can build cool things all day long
everyone sells Miriam do that she isn’t
ladylike enough that she needs to play
with more ladylike games
Miriam totally ignores them and
continues to play with her brothers but
as time goes on she plays with them less
and less until eventually she stops
playing with them altogether now Miriam
is 14 years old she still gets good
marks in her math science and computer
classes but Miriam no longer thinks of
becoming an engineer a computer
scientist or anything remotely related
to technology Miriam could have come up
with an innovation that could save lives
change the world that we live in today
make great impacts in the area of
agriculture health education
but Miriam doesn’t see a place for
herself in technology anymore so
unfortunately we’ll never know the
fantastic things that Miriam and other
girls like her could have come up with
that is the problem in Nigeria
and in many parts of the world today
we’re trying to improve lives of our
citizens and build up our economies but
we’re only playing with half of our team
okay
uh-huh so these are my parents I grew up
as the daughter of two engineers my
father was an electrical engineer and my
mother a civil engineer and that’s one
of the issues we have with technology so
my mom was the smartest person that I
knew well my dad was well but my mom
very smart she graduated top of her
class when she studied engineering she
was one of just two women in a class of
a hundred
she was called back after she graduated
by her university to start a doctoral
program and she graduated as the first
Nigerian woman with a PhD in civil
engineering from a Nigerian versity my
father an electrical engineer he was the
ultimate techie
he was always bringing in one device or
the other we would have like a pacman
game I don’t know how many of you know
pac-man Nintendo Gameboy we had our very
first personal computer with the
earliest version of Windows installed in
its then he would gather my siblings and
I together so we could on our over the
Sinise’s device he didn’t discriminate
between his son and his daughters and he
would teach us how to use it I didn’t
really think much of the way my parents
raised me until I was much older and I
realized that the way they had pushed us
and loved us and encouraged us had given
us wings to fly now I I was good in
maths and I was I was shy or very quiet
I was very analytical I didn’t know
exactly what I wanted to do as a career
but I I wanted to find my own path in
life I didn’t want to study engineering
I didn’t want to be the engineers
daughter who became an engineer so I
studied economics because it would use
the maths that I liked so I went on
applied for
degree in economics oh I want to pause
this okay so before I started University
I started I went to computer school and
that was when I learned how to write
programs I learned how to code and it
was such an eye-opener because for the
first time I could tell a computer what
to do and it was such a thrill then I
started to get an idea of the power of
computers to change our lives and if
you’re lucky make some money too so
after I finished my degree in economics
I went on for a master’s in information
systems and then a postgraduate
certificate in Applied Sciences when I
was studying I was also volunteering as
well I volunteered in women’s shelters
where I was teaching women who had left
abusive relationships and marriages how
to use computers basic computer literacy
but I saw how they leveraged their new
skills to get jobs that they previously
did not qualify for I saw how they were
now supporting their families with the
money that they were earning so I saw
that technology was truly a bridge with
which the disempowered could lift
themselves out of poverty and
powerlessness I was very interested in
how women in particular could leverage
technology now so I I was I was
wondering as I was trying to get more
women using technology I realize how few
women there were who actually creating
technology and I wondered why women use
a lot of technology if they have access
to it and they have the time to use it
but a lot of the tools were using
actually developed by men the problem
starts actually from our education you
find that in Nigeria the statistics show
that of the total number of graduates of
engineering and technology each year
only 22 percent are women
that means that we have only 22% of them
going into IT workforce now research
also shows that within the first 10
years of working most of those women the
dropouts they leave the workplace that
means that you have very few women who
actually reaching the top in technology
companies so when a girl like Miriam who
we met earlier looks at the technology
landscape she doesn’t see anyone who
looks like her and she feels that there
is not a place for me in technology the
research actually backs this up it shows
that up to the age of 11 to 12 girls are
interested in boys in technology in
maths and Sciences but something happens
after that that is when they actually
starts to take in the messages that
society is sending them that technology
is not for you so one thing that I do is
I try to attract more girls into
technology I do this by organizing
technology camps residential camps
after-school clubs we found over the
years about 36 percent of the girls
we’ve worked with are actually going in
for Science and Technology degrees I
admit that I was hoping to see big and
faster results but making change takes
time we found that there are five things
that you need to do I mean to make
technology more accessible for young
girls number one you need to start early
if you want to change mindsets you need
to start early so we started working
with girls who are age 11 but we’ve
since expanded through primary school
you need to make your classes you need
to make them fun and engaging and show
girls that they can actually be
technology creates us not just users
find out what they’re interested in when
you find out what you’re interested in
then you can actually tie that in with
technology and let them see how they can
their they can develop something online
through their interest so we had a group
of girls for instance who creates it and
app so give fashion advice based on
different body types we had another
group of girls who created an app see
reports incidences of rape and sexual
violence because that was something that
they had personal experiences with then
the second thing is that ideally make
the classes of the sessions female only
I know that we don’t live in a world
that is filled with just women but the
research has also shown that for girls
especially girls of a certain age they
feel more comfortable when they’re among
all the girls and I’m sure a lot of the
women can relate
you can make your mistakes you can ask
your questions without worrying about
how you look in front of others the
third point is that you need to connect
the girls with menses positive female
role models if a girl like Miriam had
looked out and seen a woman working in
technology she could have thought yeah
this is something for me this is
something that I can do the fourth
points that we realized is that we need
to build a community of intelligent
ambitious women who can support each
other and I feel that’s also part of
what this platform is all about because
even though they’re men and women here
we’re a community of people who are
supporting each other we are telling our
stories and where we are here to share
and help each other in whatever way we
can
and same thing with the girls it’s very
important
this is particularly crucial because if
you want to close a gap it’s not just
enough to attract more girls to say oh I
think I’d like to study technology or
computer science you need to actually
keep them in the field they need to stay
the course a woman who is in technology
is usually the only woman in her class
in her team and her departments maybe
even in her company so they need to be
able to connect with other women and
supportive men who have had like
successful careers so they can say okay
it’s possible it’s doable I can do this
if they can do it soon and then one the
fifth strategy that we found out is that
it’s important to connect
with work experience so that they can
see that what they’re learning is not
just book knowledge but is actually
solving real problems this is Sophia she
attended a technology camp that we
organized when she was 13 years old at
the time she had just a passing interest
in technology but afterwards she was so
fired up that she came returned and she
was out teaching girls to design
websites to build games and create
mobile apps
this is delaqua she attended the camp
when she was 12 pretty young she was
throwing this picture and she also came
back and was she returned to further
editions of the camp to teach girls they
both gave back today dalek was studying
medicine with a minor in computer
science and Sophia’s is studying
computer science at legal State
University I’m happy that both of them
have committed to a career in technology
but they still have a long road ahead
and if the road ahead that is much
harder if we want to close this gap I
think that first spark of interest is
good but we need to follow it up by
showing girls that they truly do have a
place in technology and we need to hold
their hand and support them for as long
as they need it so parents I would say
don’t shower your girls with gifts of
dolls and kitchen sets while you let
your sons have the very cool gifts of
robots and toy cars you can give your
daughters the dolls and the robots
because if you give her only the dolls
and the kitchen sets what you’re telling
her is that her future options are
limited to cooking and caring for others
so this is my daughter
wammy she’s two years old anyone who
knows had news that she’s boy
old she’s audacious she is she’s very
very smart and she’s inquisitive those
are all good characteristics to do well
in technology right now as you can see
she’s already a lover of technology
she likes to take my phone and my
tablets but she is still just a user of
technology but you can be sure that
knowing what I know and the experiences
that I’ve had I’m going to encourage her
to learn how to code create and to build
technology I want mommy Miriam and all
other girls like her who likes to use
technology who are interested maybe in
math and sciences to keep up that love
and hopefully in the future they can
join a generation of women who are
creating innovation that’s changing
lives I would like all of us to work
together to build a bridge where we can
see a future that men and women are
working together and are equal players
in technology thank you
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