From Chibok to Coding School Courtesy of GirlsCoding
Socialization in many African states typically pushes girls away from exploring passions and domesticates them. As Chimamanda Adichie put it on a Ted Talk a couple of years ago, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to […]
Socialization in many African states typically pushes girls away from exploring passions and domesticates them. As Chimamanda Adichie put it on a Ted Talk a couple of years ago, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man.” With that in mind, it’s particularly important that certain opportunities are extended to women alone in the bid to rewrite the wrongs that have been put in place by things like socialization and other structures. That is what makes the work that firms like GirlsCoding is doing particularly important.
While it’s great that they do teach girls how to code, it’s particularly more important that some of the Chibok Girls are being given the opportunity to gain skills which only look to continue to become more important in the world we live in today. The classes for the Chibok girls are made possible by the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) program, in partnership with Pearls Africa and Union Bank.
