Editor’s note: ISACA member Esanju Maseka, a manager of IT risk assurance at PwC Zambia, recently attended a Women in STEM conference organized by the Zambia National STEM Foundation. Maseka recently visited with the @ISACA newsletter to recap what she learned and provide her perspective on efforts to address the gender disparity in the tech workforce:
What were your main takeaways from the recent Women in STEM Conference?
The Women in STEM conference was held 8-9 September by the Zambia National STEM Foundation under the theme “She Can- Inspire, Innovate, Create, Lead and Achieve.” My main takeaways are as follows:
- More and more women are getting interested in STEM fields but there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure this interest is translated into action.
- We need to keep showcasing the different career paths women can take if they’re interested in STEM. There is such a wide range, such as being a software developer, or an engineer, yet not many understand the options available to them.
- We need to be able to create spaces that accommodate women even when they take up STEM roles, such that they can carry on with other required duties, such as parenting, while working in this field.
What makes you most optimistic that the gender gap in technology fields can change in the coming years?
The idea of a gender gap existing in different fields is not a new phenomena as it has been talked about over the last few decades. Challenges that created this gender gap are synonymous across different fields including technology fields. Pay equity continues to be a contentious issue as research has shown that oftentimes women are paid less than their male counterparts. In more technical fields such as information technology, there is a tendency for some companies to have a rigidity about workspaces and work hours which make it challenging for women’s needs to be accommodated. Additionally, there is still a noticeable gap of women in leadership in STEM fields and those in leadership often face challenges such as male counterparts failing to acknowledge their contributions as they are often viewed from a tokenist viewpoint.
My optimism for a change in the gender gap stems from how the turn of the century saw a deliberate focus on women empowerment. The Millennium Development Goals included “Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women,” and this later translated into one of the Sustainable Development Goals. This was also accompanied by increased financing towards gendered projects and a call on organisations to take on a gendered approach towards their organisational objectives.
Significant strides have further been made worldwide to encourage women to get involved in STEM fields. More technical courses and school programmes, at different levels of education, encompassing both girls and boys are now available both online and in-preson across the globe. Furthermore, there are an increasing number of corporate entities whose corporate social responsibility funds include funding women-led innovative initiatives. These are just a few examples but they make me optimistic that we are heading in the right direction.
How do you see these challenges playing out locally in Zambia
Zambia is not exempt to the challenges noted around the gender gap in technology fields. One of the more prominent challenges to women getting involved in STEM fields in Zambia is that societal and cultural expectations tend to play a big role in the career choices women make. Consequently, a woman may end up opting for a career path that seems less demanding than those in the STEM field because she feels this may allow her to attend to family and societal obligations. Yet this often results in a lack of fulfilment for these women as they cannot freely pursue their interests.
This points to the need for a paradigm shift in terms of how both men and women view the roles that women can play both in industry and in society at large. This will help break down certain stereotypes and learned practices that otherwise inhibit the ability of women to thrive in these spaces.
Furthermore, the discourse around the need to have more women involved in STEM fields should also focus on creating more targeted initiatives to women in different parts of the country and not only the larger cities. This will help to ensure a more encompassing approach towards initiatives aimed at promoting a gendered approach towards involvement in STEM.
From a personal standpoint, what drew you to the STEM/technology realm, and what has kept you motivated to continue progressing in your career?
My particular situation is quite unique. My academic background includes a bachelor’s and a master’s in economics. When I joined the corporate world, I was provided the opportunity to join IT risk assurance as there was a need there. I remember having a discussion with my boss on the prospects for my career and he explained the different aspects of what the work would entail and how the future of work would be closely linked to IT and IT-related skills. I decided to take the leap of faith and go for it.
Working in IT risk assurance, specifically in external audit, has provided me exposure to clients in different industries, allowing me to gain an appreciation for the different sectors that make an economy thrive. From a systems thinking approach, it has also been an enriching experience to help promote good governance at an organizational level by providing reviews of their IT environment.
As a risk professional, why do you think diverse perspectives are important for companies to effectively mitigate the risks that they face?
Diversity in the workplace provides both opportunities and challenges to a company, yet the challenges are not unsurmountable. Diverse perspectives allow for a multitude of ideas to be brought to decision-making processes which enhances critical thinking and allows for more innovative problem-solving to take place. This can help a company not only better mitigate certain risks but also better offer solutions and targeted products to their customers.
From a risk perspective, companies need to ensure that entity-wide risk assessments consider the diversity of their workforces. Perpetrators of certain systems may use targeted attacks to penetrate a company’s systems based on issues specific to gender or race issues, for example. It is therefore important to consider the issues affecting different groups of society and the possible triggers that may make them a target for perpetrators.
