#IWD: DigitALL: INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GENDER EQUALITY.

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IN COMMEMORATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, PHEBE FOUNDATION CONTENT ON;
DigitALL: INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GENDER EQUALITY.

The International Women’s Day is a set time to reflect, celebrate and bring changes to the varieties that affects women and the world itself.
The theme for this year seeks to bring a change for women in the aspect or innovation and technology. We are in a booming tech era, women should not be left out in what we already know and deem the COMPUTER/INFORMATION AGE.

The advantages of innovation technology can not be over-emphasized. We have a high population of young people all over the world and according to the INSTITUT NATIONAL D’ETUDES DEMOGRAPHIQUES, the percentage of women in the world is 49.6% which eventually evens out with the male population at a certain age. This means that, encouraging and enabling women involvement in technology will be aiding the world.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of women lost their businesses and had no source of income in what could have been saved if they had digital literacy. The ongoing cashless policy here in Nigeria can also be used as a survey, we all know that alot of discomforts and losses can be managed if only the women in the markets are digital literates –many do not even have a bank account.

As the world is becoming more digital, we must make smart and great investments by making women and girls familiar with technology and digital services like; education, online banking, healthcare etc.

In line with our vision at PHEBE FOUNDATION to change the narratives of a young growing child by restructuring and engineering -we seize today to encourage and urge every girl child to take out their time and ensure that digital literacy is one of their strengths and not just the basics; go into ICT, take engineering classes, programming, increase your knowledge in science, mathematics etc.
To society, get used to seeing women in overalls, behind computers, emerging data-driven solutions, with tool kits, doing E-commerce and getting involved in the creation of and decision-making around digital technology.
This means that whenever a woman in science comes to you for a job, give her one! Do not think she does not have the strength to be an engineer, give her a spot! Ensure computer skills are acquired by your growing daughters. We must make online spaces safe for women and girls, cyber-bullying and violence has been a major reason in the decline of female’s participation in E-commerce and online activities. A 2022 survey by ACTIONAID states that almost 64% out of 359 surveyed women in Bangladesh reported having faced cyber violence, we must tackle this harmful social norm and take it seriously.
Digital technology needs to be used for the progress of the SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) and gender equality must not set us further back.

DigitALL means the information/computer age involves everyone, including the girl child and today being #IWD, we seek to enhance and create this change.