Lightshore Foundation and BITM hosts webinar on women participation in IT

Lightshore Foundation and BASIS Institute of Technology & Management (BITM) organised a webinar titled 'Girls in ICT Day' to discuss how women's involvement in the local IT sector can be improved.

The webinar discussed topics such as challenges women face in the local IT sector and how more women's participation can be achieved in the emerging information and technology fields of Bangladesh. 

Held on 28 April 2022, the webinar was moderated by Tanzila Munia, a member of the Lightshore Foundation. Other mediators present were Emrajina Islam, Md. Shahriar Hasan, Nazia Hasan, Shuvashish Roy, ABM Jabed Sultan Pias and Talukder Mohammad Shabbir. 

The webinar was hosted on Zoom, with about 60 women in attendance. During the webinar, the mediators expressed their concerns and shared opinions on how to improve the engagement of women in IT. 

Emrajina Islam, Co-Founder of Emrajina Technologies, said that it is a big hassle for Bangladeshi women to achieve anything notable. However, she states, that with proper desire, enthusiasm, smartness and support from family, it is definitely possible. "At my company, female employees work more honestly and harder than male employees. There is also more dedication seen in women than men when they are provided a comfort zone," Emrajina said. 

Md Sahariar Hasan, National Consultant of A2i ICT Division, said that the government has zero-tolerance for the harassment of girls on online platforms. "The range of online careers is much higher, especially for girls in this sector," he added.

Nazia Hasan, Head of Design at Design & API, said, "Girls need to be encouraged to enter the ICT sector through various competitions." She added that curiosity needs to be created in children from an early age so more women's participation is seen in IT. 

Shuvashish Roy, Head of Business of The Daily Star, said that there is a need for more women in ICT. "Journalists now have to work and survive with the knowledge of ICT, whether it is a man or a woman. It is necessary to create awareness in the society, so more initiatives are needed from the government," he stated.

ABM Jabed Sultan Pias, Head of Business of Prothom Alo, stated that in Prothom Alo, women get the priority. "When joining Prothom Alo, all the male colleagues need to read a book on feminism and strictly adhere to it," he added. 

Talukder Mohammad Shabbir, Director & CEO of BITM, said that women's participation was almost negligible at the beginning of BITM courses. He added, "Men are more likely to be seen in ICT sector courses. Where more than 40% of the girls should be present, not more than 20% of us have never come here as participants."

Sultana Razia, Co-Founder of Lightshore Foundation, said that if women's participation in the ICT sector is not increased, women will lag behind in terms of empowerment. According to her, Lightshore Foundation will be hosting training sessions on technical skills development, STEM workshops and a hackathon on ICT to raise awareness on increasing women's participation in local IT sectors.