In more than ten years of her career, Catherine Bwire, CISO at Ecobank Uganda, has watched women remain outnumbered in IT careers. To change that, she urges female tech leaders to make themselves visible and mentor the younger generation.
A survey by PwC revealed that 78% of female university students could not name a single woman working in technology, with only 27% considering a tech career compared to 61% of men. Across Africa, this disparity is visible at almost every tech conference and corporate IT department, where women remain drastically underrepresented.
Catherine Bwire stands out as one of the few female tech leaders in Uganda, operating in a banking sector where women in senior IT roles are rarer still.
"I know in the banking industry we are not more than five female CISOs," she says.
The statistics carry across other tech roles in the region. During the first ever CITO summit in Rwanda and Uganda, there were only three female leaders present in the room. Catherine noted that the same challenge continues to surface across other forums involving technology professionals.
The perception gap
She believes this is attributed to the current perception among young women.
"I've noticed that interest among young ladies is still relatively low. It is largely a mindset issue because, when you look at many of the entry level jobs available after university, they often involve help desk support, running cables and even climbing tables to fix projectors. These tasks are often perceived as being more suited to men," she says.
For Catherine, that first stretch of a career is where the real gap opens up. Skipping help desk work, cabling and other hands-on technical tasks means missing the foundation that later leads to senior security roles.
Drawing on her experience mentoring aspiring young professionals through ISACA as well as at Uganda Christian University and Strathmore University, Catherine has observed that many young women are attracted to the end result of a successful technology career but are less aware of the hands-on technical work that often forms the foundation of that success.
"Whenever I engage with young ladies, I need to show up looking presentable in my high heels. For the young ladies it’s a wow moment because they wonder how I wear heels to the office and get my work done.”
According to Catherine, what the young ladies do not know is that she has had a journey where she also started from the bottom and did her share of running cables long before she reached the CISO's office.
Further, Catherine believes that women's appetite for risk is lower compared to men.
"The men are more flexible. When you look at even the workforce, a young man will apply for a job even if they don't have the full qualifications. For the ladies, they want to be sure," she says.
To close the gap, Catherine encourages the few women in the tech space to put themselves out there.
"If we don't put ourselves out there, the picture we are giving the younger generation is bad. That's how we help the younger generation behind us," she says.
