Huawei Zambia Technologies has called for active participation of women in Information Communication Technology (ICT) related activities as men participation continue to outstrip that of women.
Managing Director, Anthony Yu, says the only way to attain gender equality is to collectively carry forward both men and women and be each other’s champions by addressing barriers especially in work environments.
In a statement to ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Yu indicated that his company takes cognizant of the fact that there are only a handful of women that have taken up critical roles in ICT, hence the company wants to make sure that women breakthrough the perception that only men belong to the ICT industry.
He added that gender inclusiveness is crucial not only to Huawei’s success but, also to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5) that the company is passionate about, which seeks to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls.
The Huawei Zambia Technologies Managing Director, also indicated that his company is hoping to make a serious leap and find ways to encourage women participation in ICT related activities.
He stated that out of 55 participants in last year’s ICT competition in Zambia, only eight females from the general public and 2 female instructors participated against a horde of 47 male folks.
Mr Yu, hinted that part of the firm’s agenda for women is to see that they step in and take the reins in ICT and that no dream should sound so absurd for a girl child who wants to take up a career in ICTs including that woman who wants to become a software engineer.
He added that Huawei wants to continue to take extraordinary measures of promoting women, and that could be a step of great importance in the path of bridging the gap between men and women in the ICT Sector.
And Huawei Access Network Engineer, Tryphine Zulu, noted that opportunities for females to grow in ICT at Huawei are there and women just need to cease them.
She noted that Huawei however, needs to create more public sensitisation platforms, targeting women and female engineers in ICT that can be used to encourage and inspire women to take up ICTs.
Ms Zulu added that women too should have a curious mindset to explore ICT related career paths and that they can always find their comfortable within the technology industry which is broad.
