IT vacancies are still occupied by a male majority – 03/08/2023 – Education

Entities and companies with goals of social advances are facing and trying to change a reality of profound gender disparity that affects the information technology market. Data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) indicate that, out of every ten technology professionals, only two are women.

This is the challenge, for example, of {reprograma}, a social startup that provides support and training to mostly black, trans and transvestite women who do not have the resources or opportunities to learn to program.

The startup’s CEO, Nadja Brandão, says that, in 18 weeks of course, the student is able to work in the area of ​​information technology.

Since its founding in 2016, around 3,000 women have participated in selection workshops and half have become students. Of the total, more than 60% declare themselves black or brown and 6% trans and/or transvestites.

She says that, in principle, the classes were made up of 99% white women. However, for everyone to understand that information technology is an accessible market like any other, they delved into the cut: black women, single mothers, trans women, transvestites, in economic and social vulnerability.

“White women also participate, but the idea is to open doors, so that everyone can see themselves in the market, these references encourage other women”, says Nadja Brandão.

There is also a concern for the student to complete the course and, therefore, they are analyzed on a case-by-case basis so that some women are financially supported.

“Not all of them have a computer or internet access, others lose their jobs during the course or need a second one to support their home. That’s why we seek institutional and business partnerships so that they don’t give up”, explains Brandão.

According to Rais (Annual List of Social Information), female participation in this market has grown in recent years, from 65,800 women in 2015 to 92,800 in 2021.

By the end of this year, the expectation is to train over 440 professionals. The CEO states that the employability rate is greater than 85% up to six months after graduation.

However, Brandão does not romanticize this growth and says that the end of gender and racial inequality in the labor market will only take a lot of effort and not in the short term.

She gives as an example her own experience as a black woman, who held leadership positions in large corporations. “There is a loneliness because you don’t see other black women. That’s why I accepted the invitation to work at {reprograma} and bring women closer to leadership positions”, she says.

“Here they don’t just learn the technique, but that they can be a reference within a large company, bringing this awareness of diversity”, says the CEO.

That’s what happened to Josiane Santiago, 56, who worked as a physiotherapist for 25 years, but was looking to change areas.

“The {reprograma} was the big turning point. There I developed personal and professional skills, lived with other women and learned from each other. I empowered myself, valued myself”, she says that, in 2019, at the age of 53, she did the programmer course and, today, at the second IT company, she was promoted to full software engineer.

She reports that she competed with 120 candidates in a program for the inclusion of black people and was among the 20 hired. Of these, only three made it to full.

Today, in a team of eight people, she is the only woman. “But we can’t take that for granted. We have to fight to find our place in the sun.”

Another success story is that of Beatriz Ramerindo, 25. She moved from Rio to São Paulo in August 2021 after taking the course at {reprograma}, where she is now also a teacher, and getting a job as a software engineer at the company at which one wanted to work. “I left almost zero income to start earning three minimum wages and all the benefits at the startup’s partner company.

Ramerindo tells that he lived a good part of his life with his family in the Complexo do Chapadão community (north zone of Rio de Janeiro) and reports that, due to several factors, such as low income, he attended school only up to the 6th year of Elementary School in the regular period . In 2014, he went back to school and completed elementary school through EJA (Education for Youth and Adults) and five years later, at the beginning of his gender transition, he finished school.

Through a friend, in 2020, she met {reprograma}. Familiar with one of the IT languages, JavaScript, she participated in the startup workshop to help her friend, but was also selected.

For Keila Simpson, president of Antra (National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals), initiatives that make it possible for the trans population to enter the job market are positive and she hopes that similar actions may arise to create more opportunities.

“When there is this insertion of black women, transsexuals and transvestites, it is very important because these people live within a great exclusion.”

Other institutions and companies also offer training and inclusion of women in the information technology market. Among them are PretaLab, Microsoft, Softex, Mais Mulheres em Tech, Olabi, Assespro-PR, PrograMaria and TechGirls.

This story is being published as part of the “Towards Equality” project, an international and collaborative initiative that includes 14 media outlets to present the challenges and solutions to achieving gender equality.