Finalist category: Digital Skills Award
#T4Gtechmums
Digital Skills Award, Finalist, 2017
Educate a woman, you educate a nation
#techmums works with mums in disadvantaged communities to teach them digital skills, build their confidence and help them relate better to their children around technology, Dr Sue Black OBE explained.
“We work with schools, colleges, universities and local authorities to deliver #techmums and have had some great results with mums confidence improving dramatically. Some women going back into education, starting or improving their business, getting a job or simply feeling more empowered with technology,”
From a hardware point of view they use everything from desktops, laptops, smartphones, iPads, Raspberry Pis to arduinos. They cover everything from app design to social media, whatever the mums are interested in.
“One of our awesome #techmums Ahmina runs a school uniform business in Watney Market in London’s East End. She says we changed her life by teaching her how to add attachments to emails. She realised that she could take photos of her samples on the phone and send to customers rather than her son having to take parcels of samples across London,” said Dr Sue Black.
Instead of targeting easy to access and easy to educate groups of people, they are targeting more challenging groups. Many of the #techmums they work with have English as their second language and come from deprived areas. They want to reach those that will benefit most from digital skills.
“We strongly believe that if you ‘educate a man you educate one person, if you educate a woman you educate a nation,” said Dr. Sue Black.
Over 25 years ago, #techmums founder and CEO, Dr Sue Black OBE was a single parent in a Women’s Aid refuge with three children under 4 years of age. Sue went back into education, got a degree then a PhD in software engineering.
Sue believes that is she can do it, so can anyone else. Education is a massive enabler and has dramatically changed Sue and her children’s lives. She wants to provide that opportunity for mums, to share her passion for technology, to create one million #techmums by 2020.
