In marking International Women’s Day, celebrated on Wednesday 8 March, tech training provider ALX, has announced it’s first-ever all-female software engineering cohort of 50 000 women in South Africa.

The cohort forms part of ALX’s ‘WomXn and Tech’ initiative, inspired by this year’s United Nations (UN) International Women’s Day theme of ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’.

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.

The 2023 celebration event is recognising and celebrating women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education.

The UN says the observance ‘will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities, and it will also spotlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence’.

To this end, ALX announced a partnership with MasterCard Foundation on Tuesday 7 March, offering fully sponsored placements at no cost to thousands of young women in South Africa who meet the eligibility requirements for its programme.

“This will equip them with employable skills to enter high-growth career paths in the global digital economy.

“Part of African Leadership International, ALX is a career accelerator programme training thousands of software engineers and developing other in-demand tech-talent.”

The training provider says with the programme, it is showing commitment to bridge the digital gender divide, ‘increasing the representation of women in the industry and driving the participation of women to innovate and create solutions for a diverse world’.

ALX is a technology training provider with a footprint in eight core markets; namely South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia and Morocco.

Applications for the ALX all-female cohort closes on 15 March, and the group will start training on 27 March, no prior experience or background in IT is required to apply.

Vatiswa Gilivane, activations manager at ALX South Africa, comments: “The exclusively female software engineering cohort we are introducing helps to reduce this significant divide and empower women with the skills necessary to become software engineers.

“It is about encouraging young women in South Africa to embrace technology as a future career path. The investment ALX is making in this cohort reflects the potential we see in the country and provides a dynamic environment for women to see STEM as something that they can be part of.”

According to ALX, the all-women software engineering cohort will be designing solutions for communities, cities, countries, and the virtual world.

“They will be at the forefront of Africa’s trajectory into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and gain the skills vital to help drive the continent forward in economic growth.

“The cohort will provide women with a collaborative environment for growth and has been designed to support them from the start of their training and throughout their career journeys as they become part of the exclusive and diverse community of technology professionals in the room.”