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Women’s Month: Kempton Park Female Students
We spoke to some of the incredible female students at our Kempton Park campus to find out what Women’s Month means to them and what their future aspirations as women in IT are.
Meet Janay Sander, a 2nd year Bachelor of Computing student. Miss Sander chose to study IT because of her love for problem-solving and her quest to make a difference. She chose to study at Belgium Campus specifically because she believes Belgium Campus succeeds in preparing its students for the work environment by aligning its subjects, tests and assignments with real-world challenges.
We asked what Women’s Month means to her, “It reminds me that all people are equal and that women can make just as much of a difference as anyone else. Women are powerful, intelligent and beautiful and although men often can’t understand us, they would be lost without us.”
After completing her studies, Miss Sander wants to work for an IT company in South Africa. She wants to create software systems to help improve the healthcare sector and the lives of people living with disabilities.
Glenda Mabasa is a 2nd year Bachelor of Computing student. She believes that Women’s Month serves as an opportunity to celebrate women doing great things in their respective fields, especially in male-dominated fields like IT. “Anyone who thinks the IT field should be reserved for men needs to walk out of the 19th century and into the exciting 21st century where men and women are given the same opportunities to showcase their skills and talent,” she comments.
We asked her which woman in IT inspires her most, “Baratang Miya, the founder of GirlHype. She is a self-taught coder and she is sharing this skill with other women and girls, teaching them how to code and find solutions to real-world problems and I think that’s amazing.”
Miss Mabasa chose to study IT because she wants to be part of the exciting future that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has made room for. Post-graduation she aims to own her own IT company.
Bridgette Maboya, a 2nd year Software Engineering student, has big dreams and is not afraid to go after them. On completion of her qualification she sees herself owning an IT company which provides global IT solutions, while at the same time giving back to the community as much as possible and empowering young women. “As a woman I can inspire the upcoming generations and make them understand that there is always room for success and a better future,” she says.
The woman in IT who inspires her most is Sheryl Sanberg, the COO of Facebook. “She is the first woman to serve on Facebook’s board of directors, she is someone I aspire to be like,” she comments.
Miss Maboya sees Women’s Month as an opportunity to reflect on the struggles women in South Africa have faced in the past, in order to understand that with determination and collaboration anything is possible. Women have proven time and time again what they are capable of and seeing what they have overcome in the past provides fuel for present day women to strive for what they want.
Meet Nozipho Masango, a 1st year Diploma in Information Technology student. Miss Masango chose to pursue a career in IT as she believes it has become the backbone of almost every organization. She chose to study at Belgium Campus because of its unparalleled education and networking opportunities.
Miss Masango views Women’s Month as an opportunity for women to express their needs, wants and frustrations in all spheres of life, with the hope of advancing the end goal of equality for all. “Women have been denied equal opportunities for years but instead of complaining we create our own opportunities while maintaining a positive outlook on life, that’s admirable,” she says. The woman who inspires her most is her mother, “She nurtured me to grow without barriers which has made me the woman I am today.”
Post-graduation, Miss Masango hopes to find a company which shares similar values as her, a company which will allow her to showcase her experience and expertise while also giving her an opportunity to grow.
Annette Pienaar is a 1st year Bachelor of Computing student. She has always had an interest in the ICT industry but wasn’t too sure what to study after completing high school. After a class representative from Belgium Campus spoke at her school, she decided to attend one of our open days and she never looked back. “The moment I entered one of the buildings on campus, I knew that this is what I wanted to do for a living,” she says.
Miss Pienaar believes that the empowerment of women has always been something that has driven the future, with some of the most impressive figures in history being women. She draws inspiration from a number of women including Sophia Amoruso, who developed a women-exclusive social networking platform, Elsa Bernadotte, who was featured in Forbes’ 2018 30 Under 30 list and Mary Shelley, who was just 19 when she wrote Frankenstein and started the science fiction genre.
After graduating, Miss Pienaar hopes to find a job that allows her to inspire young women considering a career in IT. “I want to show them that going against the status quo is something they shouldn’t be afraid of. Being a woman shouldn’t define whether you should work here or there, if it is your passion you should go for it!”
