{"id":342946,"date":"2017-06-07T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1498942"},"modified":"2017-06-07T04:00:53","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T20:00:53","slug":"what-silicon-valley-can-learn-from-lebanons-women-in-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/what-silicon-valley-can-learn-from-lebanons-women-in-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"What Silicon Valley can learn from Lebanon\u2019s women in tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Asia Joumaa is a Lebanese web developer at the Beirut-based internet company Pixel38 and the top student to graduate from the second training cycle of SE Factory<\/a>, an intensive coding bootcamp that provides young people with the technical skills they need to land jobs in the Lebanese digital sector \u2014 a space dominated by men from the top down of the glassy ceiling, like every tech ecosystem across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to work as a web developer, and then I got into SE Factory, which helped me get there,\u201d shares Joumaa. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of young women who want to get into tech here in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed there are. At Beirut Digital District (BDD)<\/a>, a bustling tech hub in Lebanon\u2019s capital that provides space and support services to 70 other companies (including SE Factory), the gender ratio is 55 percent women to 45 percent male. At the executive level, the ratio is 80 percent men to 20 percent women.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s back up for a second. The fact that more women are holding positions within BDD\u2019s creative tech cluster, which is home to approximately 1,300 employees overall, is a bright anomaly, as there aren\u2019t known tech scenes in the Western world where women outnumber men.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the average percentage of women working in the tech industry is 30 percent<\/a>, while women make up 59 percent of the country\u2019s workforce. Meanwhile in the U.K., the percentage of women working in tech registers at\u00a017 percent<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 lower than the number of women working in Parliament.<\/p>\n

At this moment in time, embracing women in tech at any level should be non-negotiable for any business and government that intends to thrive. This isn\u2019t simply because there is a growing, global crusade of groups championing female entrepreneurs. And it\u2019s not because we\u2019re not waiting 118 years<\/a> for gender equality to finally transpire \u2014 because we\u2019re not, by the way. It\u2019s because women represent the largest market opportunity in the world, as they control $20 trillion in consumer spending a year.<\/p>\n

According to the 2016 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report, Lebanon\u2019s ranking for women\u2019s rights is 135 out of 144<\/a>. With more players in Lebanon\u2019s digital network contributing to the employment and success of women, that position could and will hopefully change for the better.<\/p>\n

If the gender trend at BDD continues to expand beyond that community, and if more women in the country begin to pursue founder and executive roles, there\u2019s hope for women to become a larger part of Lebanon\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

As with any social movement, young people are the key to change and to cultivating new ideologies. Mohammad Rabah, general manager at ZRE, the developer of BDD, says the talent graduating from Lebanon\u2019s universities is the main ingredient that led to the creation of BDD and its female workforce. It\u2019s worth noting that Lebanon has one of the top education systems in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe of the graduating talents you have more males traveling outside Lebanon continuing either their studies or their work at regional or international locations, whereas with females you have a higher percentage that stay within Lebanon to work with local companies,\u201d says Rabah.<\/p>\n