Opening a new world of tech possibilities for women in Tajikistan
Habiba Aslonova, Director of Alif Academy, explains how the Academy is encouraging Tajik women to pursue careers in technology for the betterment of themselves, their families and the wider economy of Tajikistan.
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and this year the celebration has a distinct tech focus. Along with the overall #EmbraceEquity campaign message, the UN have chosen to celebrate the girls and women who are ambassadors for transformative technology, digital education and opportunities, and to raise awareness of some of the challenges women and girls face in the digital realm.
Today and tomorrow, Computing will celebrate some of the programmes and people bringing opportunity to women in countries often overlooked in discussions about opportunities for women in tech. The first of these is Alif Academy, a Tajikistani-based tech training centre offering free tech programming courses, from coding to quality assurance and project management. Established by Alif Bank (an Islamic Fintech based in Tajikistan) in 2017, the academy offers free of charge training courses for Tajikistani residents seeking to pursue tech careers. The academy offers both basic and professional courses, and the Director is 24-year-old Habiba Aslonova.
Changing lives
Whilst male graduates presently outnumber women, Aslonova is working hard to increase the number of women and girls enrolling. She comments:
"Since inception, we've had 2320 graduates. 448 are women and girls. Of these, 37 were from rural areas. 625 people graduated from professional courses, 95 of them girls and women. We actively help each graduate and graduates of advanced courses to find a job. We have employed 180 people, of whom 27 are girls and women.
"We understand that this number of girls and women employed through our courses is small, but we continue to develop our courses so that there are as many positive cases as possible. I am proud to say that our courses have helped girls and women find new, promising jobs.
"For example, our student worked as an accountant for 15 years, where she was not supported, not given opportunities for growth. She successfully completed QA courses at Alif Academy and now works in an international company dealing with cryptocurrency. Sometimes I meet her in the streets of Dushanbe and every time she thanks Alif Academy for the given opportunity. "
Countering stereotypes
Aslonova acknowledges that when it comes to improving the life chances of women and girls in the region, considerable work remains.
"First of all, it is necessary to work on eliminating stereotypes. From early childhood, society in one way or another instils the existence of only "female" and only "male" professions," she says.
"Negative stereotypes about what women should be like, how we should behave and what we should put in perspective as our career or goal are formed at an early age, especially in countries in our region where stereotypes are more entrenched. We noticed that when men and women sit in a group, women are shy to ask questions and somehow show themselves. They are uncomfortable."
The observation that women and girls weren't able to really be themselves in groups, and the existence of centuries old stereotypes internalised by both men and women led to the creation of some women-only courses.
"We have created courses for girls, which will allow them to understand the role of information technology in today's world, to believe in their abilities, to succeed in this field, and to break the stereotype that 'IT is not for women.' We believe that gender diversification will increase the number of working women, which will have a direct positive impact on the country's economy and will help eliminate the shortage of qualified technical specialists. And at the organizational level, gender balance contributes to the productivity and creativity of the company."
Whilst pragmatic, Aslonova is also optimistic that, despite Tajik women being raised within boundaries that men drew for them long ago, progress is being made to make those boundaries more flexible. She also points out, quite rightly, that women remain underrepresented in tech roles in the West as well as in Asia.
"In recent years, women and girls began to learn new professions, began to receive a decent education, and became somewhat free from the economic dependence of the spouse. We understand that there is a lot of work to be done to strengthen women's voices, and while we are still in the early stages of making improvements, the fact the issue is being recognised is a significant development. If we talk about support from the state, along with the National Development Strategy 2030, the government of Tajikistan adopted the National Strategy for Activating the Role of Women and Girls.
"Removing gender restrictions will contribute to a more inclusive economy in Tajikistan, where women will have more opportunities to reach their full human potential. This is where we are going now, and my work is ensuring that women can take advantage of jobs and careers in IT. After all, this is a sector which even in the West, is trying to address issues of equality and diverse representation.
"The fact we are talking about this issue is a very important development, and seeing companies like Alif Bank launch initiatives like Alif Academy, are integral in promoting inclusion in digital education and opening a new world of possibilities for Tajik women who might have felt a career in technology and finance was simply not attainable."
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