My Journey into Podcasting

I have been an avid fan of the audio form since I was little one. I cherish the memories of getting ready for school with the radio on. Music, public service announcements, slightly corny adverts, the news delivered in clipped accents and radio plays were the background to much of my childhood. My father bought

W.TEC On BBC Africa

"I wanted girls to live more economically and socially empowered lives."@oreoluwa Lesi says that the low number of women working in tech in Nigeria is "really a big problem" – so she is training girls to pursue STEM careers. 📹: @AzeezatOlaoluwa @josh_akinyemi @FaithIlevbare pic.twitter.com/9lErZtdC6c — BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) May 2, 2020 The BBC Africa

Obinrin Akikanju

In Yoruba, Obinrin means “woman” and Akikanju means “Hero”, so I suppose the closest translation to English is Heroine. This was the name of a portrait series by photographer Foluke Sowunmi celebrating heroic women around the world who have knocked down barriers, opened closed doors, initiated change and fought for women emancipation, giving it the

W.TEC in TIME Magazine

2020 started off with a bang for the organisation I run, the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC). One thing I like to do is take time out to reflect on the journey so far, the work we have done and further opportunities to improve our capacity. And with the way this year has been, this

OkayAfrica’s 100 Women for 2020

Amidst the tough times we find ourselves in, I am happy for opportunities to celebrate. So it was a lovely surprise to receive an email from OkayAfrica that started off: We are proud to announce that you have been selected as one of the 2020 honorees for OkayAfrica’s 100 Women list for your commitment to

W.TEC on TV: Gist Nigeria

The day W.TEC turned 12, we were featured on TV. The show Gist Nigeria, a production of Channels TV and BBC Africa, featured myself and some of W.TEC’s alumnae. I talked about why it is important to address the gender disparity in technology and our alumnae discussed the impact of the W.TEC She Creates Camp

Corona Virus & Women’s Rights

This is a good article about how the COVID-19 pandemic will wreak havoc on women’s rights globally. Helen Lewis writes about the dangers of treating the pandemic in a gender-neutral way, with no analysis of the difference ways it is affecting the sexes. Historically, disease outbreaks disproportionately affect women. Women are more likely to be

Technology & Other Things in Port Elizabeth

I learnt a song when I was younger and the chorus rang “It’s a small world after all…” I can’t remember any of the other words. These lyrics came back to me when I visited Port Elizabeth in South Africa, as part of a study visit for the Digital Generation Youth project on which my

The Need to Balance for Better in STEM

Introduction: The themes of this year’s International Women’s Day were “Balance for better” and “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. Both are fitting when we examine the issue of gender equality in Science, Technology and Engineering, because there are fewer fields that demonstrate the legacy of historical under-representation as well as the STEM fields.