While youth empowerment has dominated many conversations over the past few years, the lack of significant progress is a cause for concern. According to Statistics South Africa, the absorption rate of young men into the labour market is 31.9%, outpacing that of young women, which stands at 24.2% - especially in technology space.

The United Nations Women defines the digital gender gap as the disparity between women, men, girls, and boys concerning digital adaptation and their relative opportunities to access, use, and benefit from digital technology. Too many young women are held back due to societal norms and biases. As such, they are highly underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Globally, 35% of STEM graduates are women, and the figure is lower in South Africa, with only 13%. The underrepresentation of women is also evident in critical fields such as cybersecurity, where women account for 20-25% of the global workforce.

Guest: Christelle Van De Merwe, Senior Director for Customer Operations at Mimecast