Over 400 delegates have registered for the Women and Girls in Cyber Africa Summit which is to take place at Bingu International Conventional Centre from August 1-4.
This is a first of its kind summit which the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) is expected to host in the country.
Briefing journalists in Lilongwe on Thursday morning, MACRA Director General Daud Suleman said the summit has been organised to provide a platform for women in the ICT sector to network and share ideas on how they can enhance women participation in ICT related activities.
“Global statistics show that only 13 percent of ICT related companies are headed by women while at the same time 91 percent of the world’s software programmers are men. So this conference wil help us to brainstorm on how we can improve on those statistics,” he said.
Suleman said time has come to break the current existing stereotypes that women can not ascend to leadership positions.
“The potential is there for women to take up leadership positions in the ICT sector but there has been growing stereotyping that the ICT sector is for men hence most girls are are not taking up science technology related courses at tertiary level,” said Suleman
The conference which will draw together participants from across Africa and beyond will be held under the theme “Bridging the Gender gap and breaking the glass ceiling“.
Malawi’s first lady Monica Chakwera is expected to officially open the conference.
