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Thoughts from KMC

KMC provides a safe space for women in tech, offering flexibility where required

Nomcebo Nomcebo 01 Oct 2018 • 2 min read

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KMC provides a safe space for women in tech, offering flexibility where required

It is a well-known fact that the tech space is male-dominated. This leaves women feeling as though their concerns are not heard and actions are not taken to meet their requests (which are often overlooked).

Because these issues about gender representation and discrimination are not addressed in the tech space, an estimated 32% of women quit after a year of being in the industry.

Some of these issues include:

  • The exclusion of women in creative and innovative roles,
  • A sense of feeling stalled without any direct support,
  • Inadequate maternity leave.

KMC gives back to women what was taken away from them many years ago.

It was women who dominated in the IT field during the 1940s to 1980s

  • It was women who created programs for one of the world’s first fully-electronic general purpose computers https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/05/meet-the-computers-the-women-programmers-behind-en
  • And lastly, a programming language called “Ada”, was named after a woman (Ada Lovelace) who dedicated herself to a large amount of research whilst also introducing several computer concepts and introducing numerous algorithms because of her love and passion for computer systems http://www.biography.com/people/ada-lovelace-20825323

We feel the need to instil an awareness of ‘women in tech’ in the minds of our peers and help women find their voices. We offer them an environment to completely feel free - doing what they love doing, with proper guidance and a welcoming atmosphere. We say to women “you are not alone, she-geek!”.

We value the importance of our employees because we employ the absolute best, trusting them with challenging and exciting projects while offering a platform in which they can learn from each other and grow their skill sets.

By creating a safe space for women in the Tech industry, we welcome female-talent to close the gender gap. Learn more about how seriously KMC takes our role in tech here: http://www.khabane.co.za

Support and flexibility are offered in instances such as pregnancy, as we understand how strenuous it can be to be pregnant, let alone, the process of juggling the two professions (raising an infant and work), so we offer ample maternity leave and support.

In some companies, maybe unconsciously, the criticism against female employees might be vague but it can potentially limit her progress while her male counterpart blossoms and moves on to more dynamic roles.

Ensuring the progress of our employees and full growth is key to KMC

Each member is provided with feedback and as much as you have played your role/s out well, there will always be space for some constructive criticism and additional improvement.

Though we support, encourage and listen to the needs of our female employees at KMC, we also train them and mould them to perfection.

Though we support, encourage and listen to the needs of our female employees at KMC, we also train them and mould them to perfection

KMC also focuses on other female interaction events within the tech-world, not only guiding our own, but also participating in female hackathons; the most recent being Pink-It, where our Managing Director, Kgomotso Sediane, will be giving a talk to empower all our female geeks.

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