The province needs to create an environment where pupils want to stay in the province and exploits its opportunities says the keynote speaker of the regional ICT conference.

The Eastern Cape needs to produce more Mathematics and Science learners from primary school if it is to improve its Information Communication Technology (ICT) competencies and draw more women into the sector.

Speaking to getnews.co.za ahead of the Eastern Cape Women in ICT awards which will be held in East London in April, former Sentech chief executive officer Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane says the Eastern Cape needs to create an environment where pupils want to stay in the province and exploit the opportunities in the sector.

"The province needs to avoid a situation where their graduates leave the province particularly when we need to produce more women leaders in ICT. It is especially tough for women to penetrate the ICT sector. They should be tenacious and work hard to confront the prejudices that exist in the sector towards women," says Mokone-Matabane.

Mokone-Matabane, who will be the keynote speaker at the event, says the province needs to look beyond just attracting women engineers and technicians in ICT, it also needs to develop women decision makers.

"Women representation in ICT is very low. We can do more to draw women into executive positions in the sector rather than working exclusively in the frontline as news presenters, call centre agents and sales and marketing agents," says Mokone-Matabane.

Microsoft regional standards officer for South Africa, west, east and central Africa Johan Eksteen agrees that women representation in ICT is very low with less than a third of ICT positions occupied by women.

"The positions occupied by women are not in the creation of ICT but support services such as call centres and frontline sales. Few women are involved in research and development and innovation of ICT. ICT is not taught in a way that attracts women," says Eksteen.

Women are needed in decision-making positions says Eksteen.  The ICT workforce is gender based. Women in the industry tend to work in the usage-dominated subsectors such as sales and marketing, and are less likely to be found in senior management and leadership positions.

"Research a few years ago indicated that 20% of the ICT workforce is female. Only 0,9% of IT industry managers are African women, with Coloured and Indian women accounting for 0,6% and 1% respectively. To be competitive, we need to draw from all our people including the creative power of women," says Eksteen.

Mokone-Matabane says inroads need to be made not only in drawing more women into the sector, but also in women using ICT to empower themselves and their communities.

Mokone-Matabane who is also part of the President's National Commission on Information Society and Development, says ICT is also important in dealing with challenges around health services in rural communities.

"For example the commission is intended to promote the use of ICT for development. It intends to work with rural communities to promote ICT in the form of telecentres, e-learning, e-health and multimedia centres.