Girls Can Do I.T Too

When you talk about Girl Empowerment, I think about the Girls in ICT Hackathon that took place in over three Caribbean countries inclusive of Jamaica yesterday; April 26, 2018. Girls from all over the island (Jamaica) made it their mandate to attend the event held at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. What made it so special is that it was also International Girls in ICT Day! The Hackathon is designed to create a dynamic environment where girls can engage in direct hands- on activities, using ICT to create, innovate and generate a solution. This is supported by various technology tools in mobile app building, podcasting, digital music video production and also animation. Pretty exciting isn’t it? All the girls from the various high schools and Universities definitely thought so.

Myself and Junior Broadcasters Keiala McDonald, Rajeana Henry and Asonika Carpenter along with their teacher Mrs. Griffiths-Foga from the Allman Town Primary School represented KiDz HuB at the Hackathon yesterday. We all had the opportunity see what creative things the girls from the various schools came up with for the pitch competition. Although knowing close to nothing about the ICT world, each of us left U.W.I learning something and understanding and appreciating the importance of Girls in I.T and about the importance of technology in our everyday lives. Interviews were done with the organizers of the event Ms. Bridget Lewis who told us about her inspiration to start an initiative solely for benefiting females in the Caribbean.

Here is what each of the members of the team leant at the Girls in ICT Hackathon 2018

Isheba Cornwall- “If Males can do it so can GIRLS! I learnt that there was a gap between men and women in the ICT world however it was worse in the Caribbean countries. Females were shying away from I.T because they saw it as a male dominated area and found it challenging to do. I also learnt the importance of technology in solving problems in our everyday lives”

Keiyala McDonald – “I learnt from a group of students from the American International School of Kingston (AISK) that when you’re walking on the road boys/men participate in ‘cat calling’ which makes females uncomfortable. The students from the school created an app that women can use to call a hotline if they feel threatened on the street. What I liked about the event is that kids found problems that girls go through daily and found ways to fix it”

Rajeana Henry- “I learnt that not because man was the first human on Earth means that they can do more than women. Women can also do anything men can. I like that the event inspired females and that the students from the different schools found a way to fux problems using technology”

Asonika Carpenter – “The part of the event I enjoyed the most was sitting and listening to all the pitches from the various schools and asking them different questions on what they presented on”

Mrs. Griffiths-Foga – “I was really impressed with the presentations of the various groups from high school to University. The leaning towards girls in ICT is definitely taking new life. The KiDz HuB interviews in my opinion were handled well and intelligently, Kudos to our Junior Broadcasters”