K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
“Education is the only way towards a better life,” says Faiza Yousuf, founder of WomenInTechPK, the biggest tech community for women technologists in Pakistan.
“For women in South Asia, especially, education is their ticket towards self-reliance and financial independence. I think everyone, no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, and abilities, should get equal opportunities for getting an education as well as to be financially independent,” says the young Karachi-based changemaker.
Her organisation has been making waves in the local tech industry due to its programmes and activism. A postgraduate from NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Faiza completed the World Bank-funded programme WomenXPakistan and currently leads the product development wing for software development company Genetech Solutions. Her project portfolio includes programmes with USAID, UNEquals, and Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, among others.
Speaking with quiet, unassuming resolve, Faiza expresses her passion for education, seeing it as a ladder, even a magic wand that solves problems – not just the basic ones of livelihoods or for fulfilling basic survival necessities, but also social issues.
“Pursuing the path of education has changed my life, and the lives of numerous other people that I know,” says Faiza. (She will be speaking at eShe’s South Asia Union Summit Led by Women on October 3, 2021.)
Faiza finds that the South Asian social culture or belief system has prevented many women from gravitating towards careers in technology despite having the aptitude, although a change is slowly creeping in to counter this mindset. “Women are usually encouraged to become teachers, nurses, doctors, and in most cases, homemakers. These professions are an extension of the roles women stereotypically play in societies and families as caregivers,” she says.
Her organisation is trying to change this limited mindset: “Getting a career in a field like technology has significant barriers, and one of the barriers that we are trying to break is not investing in girls’ technical education.”
Faiza’s community-funded coding and business skills boot-camp CodeGirls teaches coding skills to girls and women in Karachi who have never had the opportunity to get technical education and proper mentoring. “We have so far placed nearly 150 women in the local tech ecosystem,” she says.
Continue reading: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features/education-is-the-ticket-towards-self-reliance-and-financial-independence-for-women-in-south-asia-7510111.html
“For women in South Asia, especially, education is their ticket towards self-reliance and financial independence. I think everyone, no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, and abilities, should get equal opportunities for getting an education as well as to be financially independent,” says the young Karachi-based changemaker.
Her organisation has been making waves in the local tech industry due to its programmes and activism. A postgraduate from NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Faiza completed the World Bank-funded programme WomenXPakistan and currently leads the product development wing for software development company Genetech Solutions. Her project portfolio includes programmes with USAID, UNEquals, and Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, among others.
Speaking with quiet, unassuming resolve, Faiza expresses her passion for education, seeing it as a ladder, even a magic wand that solves problems – not just the basic ones of livelihoods or for fulfilling basic survival necessities, but also social issues.
“Pursuing the path of education has changed my life, and the lives of numerous other people that I know,” says Faiza. (She will be speaking at eShe’s South Asia Union Summit Led by Women on October 3, 2021.)
Faiza finds that the South Asian social culture or belief system has prevented many women from gravitating towards careers in technology despite having the aptitude, although a change is slowly creeping in to counter this mindset. “Women are usually encouraged to become teachers, nurses, doctors, and in most cases, homemakers. These professions are an extension of the roles women stereotypically play in societies and families as caregivers,” she says.
Her organisation is trying to change this limited mindset: “Getting a career in a field like technology has significant barriers, and one of the barriers that we are trying to break is not investing in girls’ technical education.”
Faiza’s community-funded coding and business skills boot-camp CodeGirls teaches coding skills to girls and women in Karachi who have never had the opportunity to get technical education and proper mentoring. “We have so far placed nearly 150 women in the local tech ecosystem,” she says.
Continue reading: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features/education-is-the-ticket-towards-self-reliance-and-financial-independence-for-women-in-south-asia-7510111.html
