The Relevance of Technical Education for Women

EU statistics show great differences in gender in Information and Communication Technologies skills and education. Digital skills, such as daily internet usage, obtaining information, problem solving issues are gender equal, but the ICT field is still overwhelmingly dominated by men. This creates a false impression that this field is the ?man“ field. In 2018, only 1 % of girls, on average reported that they expected to work in an ICT-related occupation, compared with 10 % of boys. Let’s change it!

IBM educational program for high schools in modern technologies P-TECH and the free online education platform Open P-TECH simultaneously help traditional education systems to boost students and teacher’s knowledge in digital technologies and help women to overcome fears and stereotypes in this field. Based on gained knowledge and skills such as Artificial Intelligence, Project Management, Problem Solving, Data Science, and other valuable skills, students can make better decisions about their education and career future. In Czechia, P-TECH and Open P-TECH manage Kristina Kosatikova, CSR Lead IBM CEE and Monika Kukol Sochorova, P-TECH Industry Program Manager.

We all know that jobs in modern technologies will be high in demand in coming years and P-TECH is a great start for career path to take. ICT female specialists in 2019 were below 18 % and men above 82%. The Gender Equality index of 2020 says: ?Far more women than men studied and worked in education, health and social work activities. More women take care of children, grandchildren, older people and/or people with disabilities every day for 1 hour or more compared to men. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressure on families, especially women and lone mothers.” P-TECH is changing traditional views and stereotypes in society and education. Another factors that affect female engagements with ICT apart from the traditional role of women in society are lack of female role models, family influences, students relationship with teachers, career/life balance, risk aversion, self-confidence, lack of introductory classes and cultural factors. Women have also greater fear of failure, which eventually leads to bigger discomfort with technologies. This years pandemic situation highlighted the need for gender equality.

Kristina Kosatíková shared with me: “From my long-term perspective its very important during the digital transformation make sure that everyone is given the possibility to take partin it. And in this regard most important role plays the relevant education. That is why in 2015 I started to strive for P-TECH Czech Republic. I believe in a big potential of P-TECH to meaningfully support educational system. And our efforts start to show the first outcomes after quite a short time!”

“Advancements in digital transformation go hand in hand with advancements in gender equality” says the Gender Equality Index of 2020. Gender inequality issue is also recognised by P-TECH industry partners, whose desire is to reach to a better diversity in teams. “Diverse teams are more effective and progressive. They are hard to be created, especially with lack of women in the field, but they are truly inspirational and effective.” Says Luděk ?íha, director of the technical section, I&C Energo a.s and P-TECH industry partner.

To be able to scale P-TECH content more quickly and to align with accelerated transition to remote learning – IBM CSR launched Open P-tech in 2020. It is a free online education platform which can be helpful for showing female students that to gain technical knowledge can be fun. This platform can be very helpful and serve as a tool for an on-line school education. Open PTECH was developed especially for the age group of 14 to 23. It derives from long term IBM experiences of employees’ compulsory education. Open P-TECH offers courses like Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain but also courses based on soft skills such as Problem Solving, Project Management, Communication or Working in Teams. These non-technical skills are, not surprisingly, highly valued by employers too.

For students who successfully pass offered courses there are digital badges which can be shared on social media or to be added to a CV. These badges are recognised by P-TECH industry partners as a bonus at job interviews.

Anyone can register to the platform and some of the courses are suitable for teachers too! Teachers can build own content on the platform and use it repetitively. Last but not least, anyone interested in education can help spreading this platform, gain a badge or promote it.

“I wish I could enrol a similar program when I was at high school. I see that not much has changed since I left my high school and that frontal education still takes the prime. People are generally unwilling to adapt to fast changing work. Nothing is as upsetting as a change for many people around me” told me the other day Monika (PTECH program manager) and added “but actually, we are changemakers in education.”

The spread of technology is having a colossal impact on the labour market and the types of skills needed in the economy and society. Advanced digital skills are necessary and open opportunities to access well-paid jobs for which is significant demand in the European digital economy.

Let’s change public opinion about tech education and break stereotypes. Spread the news and help others. In 2018 only 20 % of women graduated in ICT in comparison to 80 % of men. How do you see it in the future?