ICTs — Opportunity for women empowerment

Zimbabwe.
The ZWRCN’s “Women to Women” ICTs training is part of the organisation’s effort towards enhancing learning and raising women’s knowledge levels – empowering them to make informed decisions.
The call for applications opened a floodgate of phone calls, walk-in inquiries, written applications and emails.
To us, this was a manifestation that women are awakening to the fact that the fast-paced world we live in today has no place for technophobes.
A further probe into what is giving women the pressure to acquire technological skills revealed that computer skills are now a prerequisite if one is to secure formal employment, whilst university students are now required to submit typed assignments.
Many opportunities also lie within the Internet such as information on scholarships, business opportunities, online studies and distance learning options.
Technological changes the world over have become intertwined with how societies run their social, economic and political lives.
The buzzwords now are “e-governance”, “e-learning”, “e-banking” and “social networks”, among others.
Gone are the days when the television remote controls and newspapers were part of men’s personalised assets.
Gone also are the days when the telephone used to be answered only by the father of the house.
The proliferation of the mobile technology and social media has to some extent transcended gender boundaries.
Whilst one still has to type in their sex as part of the sign up formalities on most Internet platforms, the facilities themselves are neither blue nor pink, male or female. Once you are signed up, the functions do not discriminate against gender.
However, as Technology Zimbabwe’s Clinton Mutambo writes in one of his articles entitled, “Are women afraid of venturing into ICTs?”, the ICT sector in Zimbabwe, Africa and the world is still dominated by men and this has been the case since the telephone and transistors were invented.
A few women have recently begun breaking into the mould by challenging this convention.
Hats off to Tana Meecham, who is the Zimbabwe Online chief operations officer, and Njeri Rionge, who is the co-founder of Wanachi Group – one of the biggest Internet service providers in Kenya.
If there are women still struggling with technophobe today, they should emulate Rudo Mudavanhu, the Africom chief commercial officer who also scooped the 2010 ICT Achievers Businesswoman of the Year Award.
By the way, the chief executive of renowned PC maker Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman, is a woman, and the chief operations officer of the popular Facebook Sheryl Sandberg is also a woman.
It is also worth mentioning that Google policy manager for Africa Ory Okolloh is also a woman.
There are therefore unlimited opportunities for women to take up software development or to become successful ICT entrepreneurs or to create a global ICT network run by women.
Mutambo also argues that in a continent where women form a majority of the population and half of the workforce, it is an anomaly that the percentage of women working in technology is less than 15 percent.
“Technology is one of the key factors driving Africa’s projected economic rise.
“As such, there is enormous potential for maximising the growth of technology through increasing the number and quality of women in technology,” reads part of Mutambo’s article.
While support mechanisms need to be put in place for women to access ICTs in Zimbabwe, women themselves can take the initiative and demand a bigger stake in the sector, beginning with organising themselves and acquiring the necessary skills.

l ZWRCN is an information-based organisation committed to gender equality and equity. It is currently providing free basic computer skills training to women across all age groups. For all inquiries, please contact ZWRCN on email: [email protected]/ website: www.zwrcn.org.zw/ call on +2634 700250/252388/ visit ZWRCN offices at 288 Herbert Chitepo Avenue cnr Seventh Street, Harare.