WEBVTT - The Tech Gender Gap is Solvable (again) 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:25.396 Pushkin. This is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg. If they can 0:00:25.476 --> 0:00:28.876 decode information and build a website or build an up 0:00:28.916 --> 0:00:31.996 and get some skills to help them get money, they 0:00:31.996 --> 0:00:36.076 wouldn't be trafficked, they wouldn't be young prostitutes, they wouldn't 0:00:36.076 --> 0:00:38.396 be abused because they have to depend on someone else. 0:00:38.396 --> 0:00:41.756 So I'm trying to change society problems at the same 0:00:41.796 --> 0:00:44.516 time giving young women skills so they don't end up 0:00:44.556 --> 0:00:48.476 like myself. Mary amgem is the founder of I Am 0:00:48.516 --> 0:00:53.036 the Code, or organization teaches young people computer literacy and coding. 0:00:53.596 --> 0:00:56.356 According to the Worldwide Web Foundation, men continue to be 0:00:56.396 --> 0:00:59.196 twenty one percent more likely to be online than women, 0:00:59.556 --> 0:01:02.356 and they're around fifty percent more likely to be online 0:01:02.636 --> 0:01:05.676 when we look at the world's least developed countries. That 0:01:05.876 --> 0:01:09.996 gap represents a huge difference in access acts as to information, 0:01:10.356 --> 0:01:13.676 access to learning, and engagement with the rest of the world. 0:01:14.116 --> 0:01:16.596 We are helping young women to become due to the intelligent. 0:01:17.036 --> 0:01:20.116 They knew how Instagram was crazy, how Facebook was created, 0:01:20.516 --> 0:01:23.076 and we help them get into the information where they 0:01:23.116 --> 0:01:26.676 knew how actually the solution were created. My interview with 0:01:26.716 --> 0:01:29.796 Maryam jam first Round last year, we wanted to air 0:01:29.836 --> 0:01:34.276 it again as a bit of holiday inspiration. Mariam's example 0:01:34.356 --> 0:01:36.796 shows that people who seem to have the least power 0:01:36.796 --> 0:01:40.076 in the world can make a tremendous difference through sheer 0:01:40.116 --> 0:01:44.996 determination and creative thinking. It's also a reminder that smart 0:01:45.116 --> 0:01:48.876 investments can have a transformative impact on the lives of 0:01:49.036 --> 0:01:52.556 large numbers of people. My solvable is to get one 0:01:52.596 --> 0:01:55.276 million women and girls to learn how to code by 0:01:55.316 --> 0:02:06.036 the year twenty twenty. Mary. Obviously, your efforts to teach 0:02:06.316 --> 0:02:10.716 girls to code reflects your own experience. I wonder if 0:02:10.716 --> 0:02:12.516 you can tell me a little bit about how you 0:02:12.596 --> 0:02:16.676 came to this idea. I am from Senegal, West Africa. 0:02:16.716 --> 0:02:19.116 That's where I was born. When I was growing up, 0:02:19.116 --> 0:02:21.356 I didn't have any education, so I didn't go to school. 0:02:22.396 --> 0:02:24.796 I couldn't read and write until I was sixteen years old, 0:02:25.116 --> 0:02:28.116 and when I was eleven years old, I was abused 0:02:28.156 --> 0:02:31.076 by my colonic teacher. My country is a Muslim country, 0:02:31.236 --> 0:02:34.076 so when I was thirteen years old, I was trafficked 0:02:34.076 --> 0:02:37.636 from Senegal to France. I ended up in the UK, 0:02:38.076 --> 0:02:39.956 so I used to do cleaning jobs and working in 0:02:40.076 --> 0:02:43.276 bars and hotels. I see people in suit and things 0:02:43.276 --> 0:02:45.276 like that. And I wanted to find a job. And 0:02:45.836 --> 0:02:48.156 I remember that, you know, some of the ladies were 0:02:48.196 --> 0:02:49.996 telling me, you know, we can't find your job because 0:02:49.996 --> 0:02:52.556 you don't have any skills. We can't put you in banks, 0:02:52.716 --> 0:02:55.476 or we can't put you, you know, in supermarkets things 0:02:55.516 --> 0:02:58.276 like that, because you need to communicate. Also you need 0:02:58.316 --> 0:03:01.156 to speak English. My English was very, very broken. And 0:03:01.196 --> 0:03:04.236 then slowly, slowly I started going to a local library 0:03:04.236 --> 0:03:07.196 and learning how to read, and you know, being very 0:03:07.196 --> 0:03:11.036 disciplined and focus and every day I'll spend two hours 0:03:11.076 --> 0:03:15.276 at the library. And then I started learning match and 0:03:15.716 --> 0:03:19.796 how to imput data on Excel. I started to learn 0:03:19.836 --> 0:03:22.916 how to code. In that time, Google was born. On 0:03:22.956 --> 0:03:26.476 their platform, they had a blog. People can write and 0:03:26.516 --> 0:03:28.756 then the blog will be converted, you know, so you 0:03:28.756 --> 0:03:31.116 can write some texts and the text will be converted 0:03:31.116 --> 0:03:34.716 into into blog. And I discovered that. But in that 0:03:34.876 --> 0:03:37.876 time I had had so many anger in me and 0:03:37.996 --> 0:03:40.996 sow me frustration. I was asking myself why I was 0:03:41.036 --> 0:03:43.916 in the UK, you know, why my mum abandoned us 0:03:43.916 --> 0:03:46.476 as children. So I had a lot of vucations and 0:03:46.516 --> 0:03:50.476 then I was looking at BBC and TV and all 0:03:50.516 --> 0:03:53.196 these channels and then I just saw Bob Geldof and 0:03:53.276 --> 0:03:58.516 Bono doing the doing the live aid things. That just 0:03:58.636 --> 0:04:00.916 really makes me very upset. And I think that the 0:04:00.956 --> 0:04:03.116 way they came about was like, you know, okay, we 0:04:03.196 --> 0:04:05.716 are the saviors of Africa. We're going to save the 0:04:05.716 --> 0:04:08.556 whole world. You were upset because it was it seemed 0:04:08.556 --> 0:04:11.396 condacn the interial. Yeah, it was really weird because I 0:04:11.436 --> 0:04:14.516 saw that, you know, like everybody was talking about poverty. 0:04:14.596 --> 0:04:17.756 And then I said, well, you know, actually I was 0:04:17.836 --> 0:04:20.276 this sort of I was this young women in Africa 0:04:20.356 --> 0:04:22.396 growing up and you didn't do anything about it, and 0:04:22.636 --> 0:04:24.516 you know, it wasn't their fault really, but I think 0:04:24.876 --> 0:04:28.916 people could understand my frustration. And then I wrote an 0:04:28.956 --> 0:04:32.316 open letter to Bono and Bob Geldof for the first 0:04:32.356 --> 0:04:35.196 time and asked them to back off from Africa. You 0:04:35.236 --> 0:04:37.276 wrote to them, just to make this clear. I'm the 0:04:37.316 --> 0:04:40.916 blog that you created after teaching yourself to read and write, 0:04:41.036 --> 0:04:44.196 teaching yourself to code, and building yourself at a at 0:04:44.196 --> 0:04:47.716 a public library. Yeah, my first open letter was to 0:04:48.036 --> 0:04:50.556 Bob Geldof and Bono. They were just asking them to 0:04:50.556 --> 0:04:53.156 back off from Africa. And then the Guardiant Pick It 0:04:53.276 --> 0:04:55.836 Up show it to Bob Geldof. He didn't like it. 0:04:56.596 --> 0:04:58.756 You know, Bono didn't like it either, and they thought 0:04:58.756 --> 0:05:01.516 that I was very ungrateful as an African. And then 0:05:01.876 --> 0:05:04.076 you know, in the end they actually saw, you know, 0:05:04.156 --> 0:05:07.836 my point, and that created a one International, which is 0:05:07.876 --> 0:05:10.996 now Bono's deization. I got called to come in and 0:05:11.036 --> 0:05:14.196 find a way to help them understand that the message 0:05:14.236 --> 0:05:17.356 they're trying to portray in Europe is to too different 0:05:17.356 --> 0:05:20.556 to what's happening on the ground. It's such an amazing 0:05:21.316 --> 0:05:28.196 story that after suffering this abuse and neglect, lack of education, sixteen, 0:05:28.996 --> 0:05:32.516 you taught yourself to do all of these things that 0:05:33.556 --> 0:05:37.236 people with tremendous opportunities in many cases haven't haven't learned 0:05:37.236 --> 0:05:40.036 to do, such as coding the way you have. I mean, 0:05:40.076 --> 0:05:43.236 it raises the question, Marian, whether you're just an extraordinary 0:05:43.316 --> 0:05:46.116 person or whether you're a model that a lot of 0:05:46.236 --> 0:05:50.676 other poor people can follow. I get to ask that question. 0:05:50.876 --> 0:05:53.916 I don't think I'm special, but I think that the 0:05:53.996 --> 0:05:57.316 trauma I've lived as a child you know, we'll never 0:05:57.356 --> 0:06:00.596 go away, still is still on me. And I see 0:06:00.596 --> 0:06:03.356 that with young girls growing up in refugee comes. For example, 0:06:03.956 --> 0:06:07.036 when you've been through difficulty in life, and you've been 0:06:07.076 --> 0:06:10.796 through trauma. You try to find a way to get by. 0:06:10.956 --> 0:06:13.836 And this is the mentality I have now where I 0:06:13.996 --> 0:06:16.596 leave day by day. Every days it is another day, 0:06:16.756 --> 0:06:19.316 and I just think that, you know, I become very 0:06:19.316 --> 0:06:23.876 tenacious in getting things done. Why the focus on coding 0:06:24.076 --> 0:06:29.996 as the skill that can provide this vehicle, particularly for girls, 0:06:30.156 --> 0:06:33.316 to get out of their terrible circumstances. I mean, presumably 0:06:33.356 --> 0:06:36.116 there are lots of skills you could learn as a 0:06:36.356 --> 0:06:39.636 young person that would help you out of poverty, help 0:06:39.756 --> 0:06:43.956 give you access to power to the wider world. It 0:06:44.076 --> 0:06:47.636 started when I started to learn match at the library 0:06:47.716 --> 0:06:52.316 and then starting reading dictionaries and understanding words, because bear 0:06:52.396 --> 0:06:54.236 in mind, when I came to the UK, I couldn't 0:06:54.276 --> 0:06:57.436 understand English. I couldn't decode the information, and so you 0:06:57.436 --> 0:06:59.236 could put words in front of me, I wouldn't really 0:06:59.316 --> 0:07:02.956 understand them. I used to pick up books with numbers 0:07:03.076 --> 0:07:07.156 and I start coding. Really using XHML was from the beginning, 0:07:07.156 --> 0:07:09.916 because I could put some numbers, then it will translate 0:07:09.996 --> 0:07:12.516 on a page. And then I think that what I'm 0:07:12.516 --> 0:07:14.396 trying to do now is trying to talk to girls 0:07:14.436 --> 0:07:18.356 about digital skills and many many of the application we 0:07:18.516 --> 0:07:20.596 use around the world, for example, people don't know how 0:07:20.596 --> 0:07:23.796 it was made. And I've been always fascinated in how 0:07:23.836 --> 0:07:26.716 things are made and designed and you know who is 0:07:26.796 --> 0:07:30.396 behind the things doing things. And I like to see 0:07:30.436 --> 0:07:33.796 things being translated in numbers, but also being translated in words, 0:07:33.876 --> 0:07:37.716 and I see this with refugees now and seeing refugees 0:07:37.756 --> 0:07:41.276 and people in Lebanon, for example, when you are poor 0:07:41.476 --> 0:07:44.876 or you've been traumatized you are, you consume information very, 0:07:44.956 --> 0:07:47.436 very quickly. So I have a photographic memory where I 0:07:47.436 --> 0:07:51.316 don't forget things. Although that combination have helped me to 0:07:51.676 --> 0:07:54.356 learn how to code seven coding languages in two years. 0:07:54.916 --> 0:07:56.636 And then I had to go back to the agency 0:07:56.676 --> 0:07:58.516 to tell them, actually, now I'm a coder, and that 0:07:58.876 --> 0:08:03.156 he didn't understand what I was saying. So so now 0:08:03.196 --> 0:08:05.236 I'm a coder and I build the websites and I'm 0:08:05.236 --> 0:08:08.716 a full stack developer. I really like numbers and words. 0:08:09.756 --> 0:08:13.196 Your organization has the very suggestive and interesting name I 0:08:13.236 --> 0:08:16.596 Am the Code, which I guess speaks to that pride 0:08:16.956 --> 0:08:19.276 in learning it. But also you know, we use the 0:08:19.316 --> 0:08:22.356 expression cracking the code when you figure something out and 0:08:22.396 --> 0:08:26.556 it's not just learning to program and write software, but 0:08:26.716 --> 0:08:29.276 figuring out this larger code of how the world works. 0:08:29.316 --> 0:08:30.996 Am I reading too much into your in the name 0:08:31.036 --> 0:08:33.396 of your organization? No, No, you're absolutely right. But I 0:08:33.476 --> 0:08:35.436 think there was something else about it, because I think 0:08:35.476 --> 0:08:38.356 what happened is during the years, I was called to 0:08:39.276 --> 0:08:42.716 give a you know, a major speech at Devils and 0:08:42.756 --> 0:08:44.636 I was very very nervous, and I didn't know what 0:08:44.676 --> 0:08:47.836 to do and what to say. I've never met those influential, 0:08:47.836 --> 0:08:50.596 powerful people before. And then I said to my son, 0:08:50.636 --> 0:08:52.596 you know, what do you think I should say? My 0:08:52.636 --> 0:08:55.996 son said, well, mommy, you are the code. And what 0:08:56.036 --> 0:09:00.116 I translated from that conversation was, you know, I'm tenacious. 0:09:00.116 --> 0:09:03.916 I don't give up. You know, despite the childhood I had, 0:09:04.036 --> 0:09:06.636 I don't give up. And then despite that, I'm helping 0:09:06.636 --> 0:09:10.396 all the young women to get confidence. And that then 0:09:10.436 --> 0:09:14.316 created a massive conversation at Davos because I was the 0:09:14.316 --> 0:09:17.156 first senegalist who want to teach white middle class women 0:09:17.196 --> 0:09:19.276 in Guildford where I leave how to code, and now 0:09:19.316 --> 0:09:22.276 we have many many women coding there. But what I'm 0:09:22.316 --> 0:09:24.396 saying is that yes, you are the code. You can 0:09:24.476 --> 0:09:26.676 learn how to code but at the same time, you 0:09:26.796 --> 0:09:29.476 have the key to unlucky your life. You have the 0:09:29.556 --> 0:09:33.796 key to build your life. Despite all the challenges and 0:09:33.836 --> 0:09:37.436 all the difficulty, you can get this key and go 0:09:37.636 --> 0:09:40.396 in and open the doors for yourself and for other people. 0:09:40.916 --> 0:09:42.756 So I am the code is about coding at the 0:09:42.796 --> 0:09:46.356 same time, it's about giving women and girls power to 0:09:46.396 --> 0:09:51.476 go and change their lives. Software has traditionally been dominated 0:09:51.476 --> 0:09:54.876 by men, and so many of the issues we're seeing 0:09:54.916 --> 0:10:02.836 now around harassment and abuse online around software encoding discrimination 0:10:03.396 --> 0:10:07.596 seems to reflect to some extent that it's men who've 0:10:07.596 --> 0:10:10.396 written most of it. Do you see that as part 0:10:10.436 --> 0:10:14.996 of the problem you're addressing by bringing women into coding 0:10:14.996 --> 0:10:18.156 and software design. That's true, men men have done that. 0:10:18.476 --> 0:10:21.076 But I think also, you know, women used to crack 0:10:21.156 --> 0:10:23.796 the code, and they used to decode information, but they 0:10:23.876 --> 0:10:27.356 never had any visibility or any credit given to them. 0:10:27.436 --> 0:10:30.516 For many, many years, we had many women inventors who 0:10:30.676 --> 0:10:35.316 understood mathematics, centers and science. They understood so many you know, 0:10:35.356 --> 0:10:38.036 how the world was functioning. They actually, you know, if 0:10:38.076 --> 0:10:40.916 you just look at the GPS was invented by by 0:10:40.956 --> 0:10:44.076 a woman. But I think sometimes we just forgot those 0:10:44.116 --> 0:10:48.156 stories and those inventors who have helped us become who 0:10:48.156 --> 0:10:50.676 we are today. You know, we're not giving confidence to 0:10:50.756 --> 0:10:54.316 young women to go for it, not just you know, 0:10:54.396 --> 0:10:58.196 because they can, but also women have more empathy, they 0:10:58.196 --> 0:11:01.756 have more compassion and kindness when they designing solutions because 0:11:02.156 --> 0:11:05.396 they design solutions for their communities and for you know, 0:11:05.436 --> 0:11:08.756 the real problems. Men they design things because they you know, 0:11:08.796 --> 0:11:11.236 it's like cool and they can make money or they 0:11:11.236 --> 0:11:15.316 can just launch an IPO very quickly. But you know, 0:11:15.356 --> 0:11:18.316 women design things to you know, to help their communities 0:11:18.356 --> 0:11:21.396 and help their friends. That's what I saw my young 0:11:21.476 --> 0:11:25.596 women actually doing. And it's one thing to try to 0:11:25.636 --> 0:11:28.476 teach women to code and Guildford, it's another thing to 0:11:28.556 --> 0:11:32.916 try to teach young women to code and Senegal, for example. 0:11:33.316 --> 0:11:35.716 There must be a lot of obstacles to trying to 0:11:36.476 --> 0:11:38.796 set up and communicate what we're trying to communicate in 0:11:38.796 --> 0:11:40.796 some of the places you're trying to do it. Can 0:11:40.836 --> 0:11:43.836 you talk about some of those challenges. That's very true. 0:11:43.836 --> 0:11:46.436 We have a lot of challenges where the women we 0:11:46.476 --> 0:11:48.636 have in Guildford are totally different through women we have 0:11:48.756 --> 0:11:51.876 in the Refugi camp in Kenya in Senegal, but I 0:11:51.876 --> 0:11:54.356 would have learned during the last three years is that 0:11:54.436 --> 0:11:57.956 it's not a location problem. Is actually they all smart 0:11:57.996 --> 0:12:00.756 young women who wants to learn, you know, a different skill. 0:12:01.196 --> 0:12:04.076 So we have changed the world coding to digital skills. 0:12:04.196 --> 0:12:07.276 For example, we are helping young women to become digitally intelligent. 0:12:07.716 --> 0:12:10.196 They know how Instagram will it's crazy to how Facebook 0:12:10.316 --> 0:12:13.316 was created, and we help them get into the information 0:12:13.396 --> 0:12:16.556 where they know how actually the solution were created. And 0:12:16.596 --> 0:12:19.156 I think that if we start giving young women and 0:12:19.276 --> 0:12:23.036 girls the power to understand, you know, how wire frames 0:12:23.036 --> 0:12:26.196 are made and how things are written the code behind 0:12:26.236 --> 0:12:27.956 is how to edit it and how to review the 0:12:28.036 --> 0:12:30.516 code and how to make it more empetic for example, 0:12:31.116 --> 0:12:33.876 or how the AI, how the data was collected and 0:12:33.996 --> 0:12:38.396 who is involved. We're now in sixty four countries. I've 0:12:38.436 --> 0:12:41.956 seen so many young women and girls and it's really 0:12:41.996 --> 0:12:45.476 not a location problem, but it's a systematic problem. And 0:12:45.516 --> 0:12:48.916 that's why going and teaching young women and girls mathematics 0:12:48.916 --> 0:12:52.916 and basic science and helping them understand the global issues 0:12:52.956 --> 0:12:56.236 like climate change, gender equality, you know, how do you 0:12:56.236 --> 0:12:58.756 read this inequality and how do you get a bank account? 0:12:59.356 --> 0:13:02.156 Things like that have a young woman to become very 0:13:02.196 --> 0:13:06.796 powerful because she knows she's participating. That's how she changed 0:13:06.796 --> 0:13:10.956 her community, changed her lives, and then there's less abuse, 0:13:11.036 --> 0:13:14.996 for example, and she's very very confident afterward. I think 0:13:15.076 --> 0:13:18.596 the training sessions you run are open to boys as well, 0:13:18.636 --> 0:13:21.916 although maybe they're more girls than boys. Is there a 0:13:21.956 --> 0:13:27.636 difference in trying to teach girls or teach boys to code? No, no, 0:13:27.676 --> 0:13:30.036 there's not a big difference. The reason why we want 0:13:30.076 --> 0:13:32.556 you to include some of the boys because we when 0:13:32.556 --> 0:13:34.116 we set up I AM the Code and the mission 0:13:34.236 --> 0:13:37.276 was to actually get one million women and girls coders. 0:13:37.316 --> 0:13:39.676 And we find out that when we're doing the clubs, 0:13:39.796 --> 0:13:41.676 boys want to be part of it. And if you 0:13:41.676 --> 0:13:45.796 look into some Muslim countries like in Afghanistan, in Senegal, 0:13:45.956 --> 0:13:49.676 in Sudan, for example, we need to get the boys involved. 0:13:49.836 --> 0:13:53.756 And in Mali in ny Air because despite us going 0:13:53.796 --> 0:13:56.476 and teaching girls how to code, there are some social 0:13:56.556 --> 0:13:59.796 issues where the young woman is still you know, looked 0:13:59.836 --> 0:14:03.436 down to, you know, the parents are not very confident 0:14:03.436 --> 0:14:06.076 in letting them go. So we get the young boys, 0:14:06.516 --> 0:14:08.596 you know, who are almost like the brothers and their 0:14:08.596 --> 0:14:11.316 cousins to be part of the clubs and then support 0:14:11.316 --> 0:14:13.636 the young women to be part of it. In Senegal, 0:14:13.916 --> 0:14:15.676 we had to get some of the boys to come 0:14:15.676 --> 0:14:18.996 and support the young women. And we respect the culture 0:14:19.076 --> 0:14:21.796 of the countries, but it's very important which young boys 0:14:22.276 --> 0:14:24.876 gender equality and how to be kind to young women 0:14:24.916 --> 0:14:27.796 and girls, and then they usually work together. We just 0:14:27.836 --> 0:14:29.796 want to make sure that we create exhibit of balance 0:14:29.836 --> 0:14:32.396 but also help young boys to be part of the 0:14:32.596 --> 0:14:35.076 I Am the Good movement because I believe that the 0:14:35.116 --> 0:14:38.396 only way we can achieve gender equality is by educating 0:14:39.196 --> 0:14:43.596 boys and men to understand women issues. Some of the 0:14:43.636 --> 0:14:47.716 people you've taught have already started to have meatingful success 0:14:47.716 --> 0:14:51.316 in their careers and some of them are becoming entrepreneurs. 0:14:51.876 --> 0:14:54.636 Is that part of your mission? Are you helping to 0:14:54.916 --> 0:14:57.836 coach people to start their own businesses, to start their 0:14:57.836 --> 0:15:01.716 own organizations. Yeah. We we have women millionaires in Senegal, 0:15:03.716 --> 0:15:07.716 so we have amazing young women who are now entrepreneurs. 0:15:07.756 --> 0:15:10.836 They do amazing well in their countries. They're building solutions, 0:15:10.876 --> 0:15:14.676 they're sitting government for example, they sit in telecom companies. 0:15:15.116 --> 0:15:17.196 You know, some of our young girls and our mothers, 0:15:17.276 --> 0:15:19.236 their children are now coming back to the I AM 0:15:19.276 --> 0:15:21.956 the Code program that I Am the Code idea has 0:15:21.996 --> 0:15:24.716 been cooking for the last five years and beyond that. 0:15:24.836 --> 0:15:27.316 So all the young women have been mentoring for the 0:15:27.356 --> 0:15:29.956 last ten years have now become you know that I 0:15:29.956 --> 0:15:32.236 am the Code ambassadors. They're taking I Am the Code 0:15:32.236 --> 0:15:35.956 in their communities. He has almost become this family. Now 0:15:35.996 --> 0:15:38.996 people are paying back and giving back to the community 0:15:39.516 --> 0:15:42.356 and they're now building their businesses. Who are really really 0:15:42.396 --> 0:15:45.636 important for the Africa tech ecosystem because in the past, 0:15:45.676 --> 0:15:49.116 we didn't think about women as agent of change or 0:15:49.356 --> 0:15:54.156 agent of economic development, but we fought many African women 0:15:54.316 --> 0:15:57.996 and young women were seen as object of development, you know, 0:15:57.996 --> 0:16:01.716 the NGOs just you know, giving handout and helping them 0:16:01.716 --> 0:16:04.836 with agriculture programs things like that. But now the women 0:16:04.876 --> 0:16:08.156 actually designing their own e commerce sites, they're designing their 0:16:08.156 --> 0:16:11.996 own souls in Senegal. In Kenya, for example, they are 0:16:12.036 --> 0:16:16.716 climate change activists. They're using technology to create campaigns. For example, 0:16:16.756 --> 0:16:19.276 one of our young women in Kenya has done a 0:16:19.276 --> 0:16:22.196 lot of work on deforestation. So the idea really is 0:16:22.196 --> 0:16:24.916 to use technology as a way of empowering this young 0:16:24.916 --> 0:16:28.236 women and girls, but at the same time teaching them 0:16:28.316 --> 0:16:32.276 skills that will give them job, give them money and ultimately, 0:16:32.316 --> 0:16:34.996 you know, they become very proud of themselves. That's that's 0:16:35.036 --> 0:16:38.316 the goal of im record. You talk about teaching a 0:16:38.396 --> 0:16:42.036 million girls to code by twenty thirty in just a decade. 0:16:42.076 --> 0:16:44.356 How are you doing on that goal? And how realistic 0:16:44.476 --> 0:16:48.036 is that? Oh, it's very realistic. We've done so far 0:16:48.196 --> 0:16:50.436 fourteen thousand young women and girls are part of the 0:16:50.476 --> 0:16:53.036 I Am the Core program and we didn't have any 0:16:53.076 --> 0:16:56.876 peer in any marketing in sixty four countries. It's really 0:16:56.876 --> 0:17:00.276 overwhelming to see how the program has reached so many 0:17:00.276 --> 0:17:03.756 many women, not just in Africa, but across the world 0:17:03.956 --> 0:17:07.676 in China and Japan is very large now and it's 0:17:07.716 --> 0:17:11.076 quite a humbling to see young women having their lives 0:17:11.516 --> 0:17:13.676 changed through I Am the Code. I didn't expect that. 0:17:14.516 --> 0:17:17.956 So fourteen thousand to a million, you have, by my calculation, 0:17:18.036 --> 0:17:21.956 nine hundred and eighty six thousand together, How will you 0:17:22.036 --> 0:17:24.676 finance that? Who will help to support you in that 0:17:24.996 --> 0:17:28.396 incredibly ambitious goal. We will reash the goal because we 0:17:28.476 --> 0:17:31.756 have over twenty seven companies worldwide who have committed to 0:17:31.796 --> 0:17:34.996 the number already, and so we are working with corporates 0:17:35.036 --> 0:17:37.636 to get their staff members to become volunteers. We have 0:17:37.716 --> 0:17:40.876 women calling us they want to become champions, so they 0:17:40.876 --> 0:17:44.356 want to use their network to help spread the world. 0:17:44.396 --> 0:17:46.436 Like you know, your program is definitely going to help 0:17:46.516 --> 0:17:49.756 us get more visibility out there. And we also have 0:17:49.796 --> 0:17:52.556 digital clubs, we have hackatons, we have you know, so 0:17:52.636 --> 0:17:55.236 many boot camps. People are just joining because they can 0:17:55.236 --> 0:17:58.156 see that it makes sense. Now we have young girls 0:17:58.196 --> 0:18:00.436 actually coming to work for I Am the Code. Where 0:18:00.476 --> 0:18:03.676 am I No Listeners are hearing you talk and asking 0:18:03.876 --> 0:18:08.076 what they can do to help support your efforts and 0:18:08.196 --> 0:18:11.116 the goal general. What are some of the things that 0:18:11.756 --> 0:18:14.356 people listening might be able to do to advance the goal. 0:18:15.236 --> 0:18:18.436 They can definitely become mentors to the girls. They can 0:18:18.476 --> 0:18:20.756 become ambassadors of I Am the Code. They can run 0:18:20.796 --> 0:18:24.196 their own hecatons, they can provide space for us, they 0:18:24.236 --> 0:18:27.276 can be part of the you know, the movement to 0:18:27.316 --> 0:18:29.356 get young some of the young girls coding. We have 0:18:29.436 --> 0:18:32.836 many corporate organizations, for example, who are giving us space. 0:18:33.596 --> 0:18:36.356 They're giving us some hours to volunteer for I Am 0:18:36.356 --> 0:18:39.596 the Code, and they're opening their offices to have digital 0:18:39.636 --> 0:18:41.676 club and they're also traveling with us to meet the 0:18:41.716 --> 0:18:44.676 girls in a most difficult places around the world. We 0:18:44.756 --> 0:18:47.436 are the first organization to go into refugee camp in 0:18:47.916 --> 0:18:50.796 Kenya where the two hundred thousand people live in the 0:18:50.796 --> 0:18:53.276 refugee camp, eighteen thousands of them are women and girls. 0:18:53.316 --> 0:18:55.916 And they're the first young women and girls in a 0:18:55.956 --> 0:18:58.596 refugee camp to learn how to code. And we in 0:18:58.676 --> 0:19:02.676 slams within five US in Brazil. We are in places 0:19:02.676 --> 0:19:05.516 where I grow up as a young girl. And the 0:19:05.556 --> 0:19:08.876 reason why I'm going back there is to tell the 0:19:08.876 --> 0:19:12.476 world that those people they matter. By going back and 0:19:13.116 --> 0:19:16.316 holding those young girls and and helping them to be 0:19:16.436 --> 0:19:19.556 confident and to also gain a skill, I believe that 0:19:19.716 --> 0:19:22.956 coding is the future. If they can decode information and 0:19:23.076 --> 0:19:26.476 build the website or build an app, and get some 0:19:26.716 --> 0:19:29.876 skills to help them get money, they wouldn't be trafficked, 0:19:30.516 --> 0:19:33.836 they wouldn't be young prostitutes, they wouldn't be abused because 0:19:33.836 --> 0:19:35.716 they have to depend on someone else. So I'm trying 0:19:35.716 --> 0:19:39.276 to change society problems at the same time giving young 0:19:39.276 --> 0:19:42.796 women skills so they don't end up like myself. And 0:19:43.036 --> 0:19:45.316 how about here in the United States, Mariam, is there 0:19:45.356 --> 0:19:47.676 a role for your organization to play here? Are you 0:19:47.676 --> 0:19:50.836 active here? We have some major banks who won't support 0:19:50.836 --> 0:19:52.516 I am the code and hopefully we're going to go 0:19:52.556 --> 0:19:55.756 to deprived communities. Because our content is free. People can 0:19:55.836 --> 0:19:58.036 use them in prisons, they can use them in places. 0:19:58.036 --> 0:20:00.596 In the UK we go to prisons and places where 0:20:00.596 --> 0:20:03.956 we can rehabilitate people. So we're hoping that by the 0:20:04.196 --> 0:20:08.516 beginning of twenty twenty. I'm in the United States. It's 0:20:08.516 --> 0:20:12.316 such an odd, dacious idea to say someone who's been 0:20:12.316 --> 0:20:16.716 a victim of trafficking should be writing software. Have you 0:20:16.796 --> 0:20:19.796 seen other women who followed the kind of path that 0:20:19.876 --> 0:20:24.076 you did and had that extraordinary transformation? Yeah, I haven't 0:20:24.116 --> 0:20:26.556 seen it yet. I've seen many women who so many 0:20:26.636 --> 0:20:28.956 women who've been trafficked and had difficulty in their life, 0:20:28.956 --> 0:20:31.476 but mainly they go into the activism world and share 0:20:31.476 --> 0:20:33.596 their stories with other people around the world. But for me, 0:20:33.636 --> 0:20:36.036 that's not enough, and my pioneering system change. That's what 0:20:36.156 --> 0:20:38.996 I do. I change systems in countries and in government. 0:20:39.596 --> 0:20:41.556 And I believe that the reason why I was trafficked 0:20:41.556 --> 0:20:44.596 from Senegal and the reason why my mother actually abandoned 0:20:44.676 --> 0:20:47.756 us as children, and you know, I was abused and 0:20:47.836 --> 0:20:50.316 rapped by my chronic teacher in my country in Senegal, 0:20:50.356 --> 0:20:53.796 and ultimately traffic from Senegal is because the system of 0:20:53.796 --> 0:20:55.676 the country was broken. And so what I tried to 0:20:55.716 --> 0:20:57.076 do if I am the Code at the same time 0:20:57.196 --> 0:21:00.116 is how do you fix systems in countries? How do 0:21:00.156 --> 0:21:03.396 you educate government and the private sector to understand that actually, 0:21:03.716 --> 0:21:06.756 you know, if you mess up one child's life, you know, 0:21:07.156 --> 0:21:09.156 just messing up her life, but you're messing up the 0:21:09.316 --> 0:21:12.036 entire community's life. For example, we don't have birth certificate. 0:21:12.116 --> 0:21:15.636 We totally are incunito in Senegal. And I see this 0:21:15.756 --> 0:21:18.396 today in the refugi camp where you know, the worst 0:21:18.516 --> 0:21:22.036 is just watching things happening to two million, millions of 0:21:22.076 --> 0:21:25.676 women and girls from Senegal to Nepal. So unless someone 0:21:25.956 --> 0:21:29.556 come up with something very ambitious and very ruthless like 0:21:29.596 --> 0:21:31.716 I am the Code, nothing will happen. And I've seen 0:21:31.876 --> 0:21:36.596 change happening from Buenden areas to Senegal, just because I 0:21:36.836 --> 0:21:40.036 dare to be visible and I dare to tell the world. 0:21:40.356 --> 0:21:42.276 If you don't want to find out any more women 0:21:42.516 --> 0:21:45.036 being traffic and taken away, you have to change the 0:21:45.076 --> 0:21:46.556 system in the country. You don't want to have any 0:21:46.556 --> 0:21:49.116 more immigrants in Europe or in the United States, change 0:21:49.156 --> 0:21:51.236 the system in their countries, give them the skills, and 0:21:51.436 --> 0:21:53.356 as soon as you do that, they wouldn't need to 0:21:53.436 --> 0:21:55.356