“Lots of the girls who attend the centre have never seen or met a woman who is a computer scientist or engineer, so the prospect of becoming one, is not within the realms of possibility.”
In the third of our five features celebrating Ada Lovelace Day and prominent women in science and technology across the world, we speak to Oreoluwa Somolu about empowering young women in Africa to engage with technology and pursue careers in science and technology.
Ada Lovelace Day, marked yesterday across the world, is an annual celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC). Somolu worked for several years in the United States at an educational non-for-profit organisation on a number of projects, which explored the interplay between gender and technology and which sought to attract more girls and women to study and work in science and technology-related fields. She has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Essex University, U.K, a Master’s degree in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics & Political Science and a Certificate in Applied Sciences from Harvard University’s Extension School. Her interests are the applications of technology in improving lifelong learning and also to raise the economic and social conditions of people (especially women and children) in the developing world.
Somolu also has some research experience, which includes working on the Gender Equity in Math and Science (GEMS) project, while working at the Education Development Center in MA, U.S.A from 2001 to 2003. She is a 2014 Vital Voices Lead Fellow, 2013 Ashoka fellow and a recipient of the Anita Borg Change Agent Award for her commitment to issues of women in computing in Nigeria.
It was while volunteering in a downtown Boston community centre and women’s shelter, that Nigerian-born STEM enthusiast Oreoluwa Somolu realised the severe lack of awareness around the benefits of using technology. Every day she would teach women and children from across different parts of the US city how to use computers, answering questions and offering guidance on web design and basic programming. It would often surprise her how “mysterious” computing was to many, but made her fully grasp the profound impacts technology could have on people’s lives.
“I naively expected everyone to be able to use a computer as this was America, but found that to be far from the truth,” remarks Somolu. “It was an eye opener to the real world, where more women and people from ethnic communities considerably lacked computer skills. Some had never turned on a computer before, let alone knew the benefits. It was so empowering to see women return to the centre a few months later to report they had found a job as a result. They had a new found self-confidence.”