"The digital economy presents a massive opportunity for economic growth in Africa," Essie says. "It is critical to ensure that this growth is inclusive – and that it benefits women's equality in the workplace, rather than harming it."

This concern stems from some persistent biases still present in tech today. For example, a global analysis of 133 AI systems across industries found that 44.2% demonstrate gender bias. Technology also enables some forms of gender-based violence, as demonstrated by a recent survey of women journalists from 125 countries in which 73% indicated they had had suffered online violence in the course of their work1. In developing economies, like in Africa, there is a further concern in that digitalisation means that low-skilled, routinised employment faces a similar scale of potential job losses as we see in more developed nations.

In these countries, as much as 90% of non-agricultural employment is informal and low-paid work. Women are three times more likely to be employed in these roles than their male counterparts, meaning they are often under- or unpaid, vulnerable to exploitation2 and at risk of losing their jobs in the face of advances in digitalisation.

"For SAS, these statistics reinforce our commitment to ensuring that women have access to the digital economy and can not only benefit from the economic growth generated, but can contribute to it as well," Essie says.

"The key to realising digital economy job gains is digital fluency," Tumi agrees. "SAS is proudly committed to fostering diversity and gender equality in our industry through several initiatives designed to empower women and girls with digital skills."

The Girls' Education and Climate Challenges Index, which SAS built with the Malala Fund, identifies countries where girls are most at risk of experiencing educational interruptions and predicts lowering of completion rates of girls' primary and secondary education due to climate change. "This analysis help the Malala Fund to encourage global leaders to take action and bring education into the global climate change discussion so that girls in at-risk locations can receive the support they need to complete their education. And without this support, girls can't enter into tech careers," Tumi explains.

In South Africa, SAS has been supporting events aimed at Grade 11s with the potential to enter tertiary education programmes for data and analytics careers for the past four years. It is hosted in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). It is an eye opener to careers in data and analytics for the majority of the girls. Female alumni with successful analytical careers in industry from these universities inspire the girls with their career stories and opportunities.

Essie and Tumi have both built their careers on technical skills and expertise, and believe these kinds of initiatives are crucial to ensure girls are aware of, and can access, careers in technology. "Because so many young South Africans are "first gen" students – the first in their families to receive tertiary education – they are often unaware of emerging tech careers," Essie explains. "Academically strong matriculants are often encouraged to pursue traditional professional degrees – like medicine, accounting, or law – simply because no one in their social networks has ever heard of careers in data and analytics. So programmes like these are critical to ensuring women are included in Africa's digital economy."

"Helping teachers to prepare scholars for digital careers is also important," Tumi adds. "That's why the country wide Teachers4DataAnalytics program initiated by UKZN is an excellent enabling program that SAS has partnered with. It is a teacher training initiative that aims to reach hundreds of teachers and provide them with knowledge and tools to inspire their students to pursue careers in data analytics."

SAS's commitment to diversity, inclusion and innovation has been widely recognised. The company was named as one of the 2021 Fortune Best Workplaces in TechnologyTM, and was included in Fast Company's prestigious list of Most Innovative Companies – in the Social Good category and in the Joint Venture Category for an innovative Flood Prediction and Preparedness Solution powered by SAS® IoT analytics and Microsoft Azure. Most recently, SAS was named a finalist in the Nature category of Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas awards, which recognises organisations' initiatives that foster growth of positive social innovation and tackle social inequality, climate change and public health crises.

"We know that an inclusive work environment – where people from all backgrounds, values and cultures are welcomed and celebrated for their unique perspectives and the knowledge they bring – is necessary for us to continue to innovate and inspire in our fields of expertise. Doing our part to close that "persistent gender gap" in digital access is something we cannot waver on," Essie concludes.