Minister seeks increased women participation in politics, digital education

The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, has advocated women’s active inclusion in politics and digital education, stating that the digital space had far-reaching consequences for women’s economic, social and political empowerment.

Tallen stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the annual National Women’s Conference Day programme. This year’s programme has as a theme, “Inclusive Technology and Digital Education for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.”

Dwelling on technology as a pathway to achieving desired progress by women, the Minister noted that without technology, women cannot make the desired progress in Nigeria.

She said: “In this respect, we must seek for an innovative solutions that can facilitate how to leverage technology to close the gender gap and empower women to have access to health care, information, financial services, education and governance processes.”

She added that technology has become the new norm; shaping the lives of ordinary Nigerians and redefining the social norms.

“Technology was at the heart of the just concluded elections in Nigeria, The present monetary policy in Nigeria also revolves around technology, which is a more befitting reason why women and girls at all levels must brace up to be part of this growing phenomenon.

“Since the beginning of the revolution of the digital world, so many gains and huge successes have been recorded in the space with women being left behind. Today, about three billion people are still unconnected to the digital space especially the internet, with the majority of them being women and girls in developing countries. Women make up less than one-third of the workforce across science and technology, engineering and mathematics and in cutting edge fields like artificial intelligence, she stated.”

In his remarks, the Country Director, of Christian Aid, Temitope Fashola, stated that “it is high time we amplified the alarming and fast-rising gender digital gap fostered by lack of digital skills, limited access to internet connectivity, cyber violence, harassment and abuse against women as he urged all stakeholders present to heighten the fight.

He said: “The modern exhibition of dangerous socialization deeply entrenched in socio-cultural norms that promote gender-based discrimination is spoken against, he noted that the most vulnerable and marginalized groups should be supported in order to live life in all its fullness to thrive in communities.

“It was established at the inaugural edition of this conference that culture, tradition and religion which are the main drivers of gender disparity and inequality also have a huge potential of reversing the situation and tilt the balance of power in favour of the marginalized. The steps to achieving this are through the empowerment of women and girls to take ownership of their own development.

“It is our hope that this conference, will significantly contribute to the promotion of transforming negative gender norms and power dynamics into constructive values and sustain ongoing partnerships and collaboration with other development partners”, Fashola said.

Source: Guardian Nigeria | Read More