News: GE Nigeria to Empower 20,000 Women

General Electric has pledged to close the gender gap in technical jobs by the year 2020 by creating opportunities for 20,000 women. The organisation said this would be achieved through a 50:50 gender representation in all entry-level technical programmes.

It added that the most significant job growth in the coming years would take place in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and specifically in the digital coding and programming area where Africa and Europe anticipate that 80 per cent of jobs by 2020 would require a STEM education.

It said the programme would increase the representation of women in its engineering, manufacturing, Information Technology and product management roles.

Without more women in technology and manufacturing, GE said the skills gap would widen, impacting productivity and diminishing the potential of digital and other new technologies to transform industry and manufacturing.

It said in a statement, “GE has been supporting much-needed STEM development with global and Sub-Saharan Africa initiatives such as the annual Girls in Technology Day, which takes place in Nigeria.

“This month, GE is committed to closing the gender gap by promising to place 20,000 women in technical roles by 2020, and this initiative will also involve a 50:50 gender representation in all entry-level technical programmes.” As part of the initiative, GE Women’s Network in Kenya hosted the Women in Technology breakfast forum in collaboration with GE Africa Communications about working in a digital organisation.

“It’s exciting for women working at GE in Kenya to learn and share experiences with our industry peers in the digital space. We see a huge opportunity to partner and support initiatives that promote more women in leadership and technology roles,” said Brenda Mbathi, GEWN Leader, East Africa Hub.

The organisation said that the GEWN was created to accelerate the advancement of women working at GE by sharing information, best practices, education and experience, network members help one another to develop the leadership skills and career advancing opportunities needed to  drive the organisation’s success.

Source: Punch