The struggle should shift from gender equality to fellow female gender equality and equity in digital skills acquisition.
Equality and equity have sprouted unending debates especially when it comes to gender.
Equality is defined as equal opportunities and treatment to all, whereas, equity refers to fairness and proportional opportunities, resources, and representation to everyone (Quadir 2021).
This year's women's month theme insists on engaging the women more in the digital sphere. On a global scale, 69 per cent of men are using the Internet, compared with 63 per cent of women. This means there are 259 million more men than women using the Internet in 2022.In Africa in particular,the gap is even wider 34% for females as compared to 45% for men(ITU, 2022).
We have spent a lot of time trying to catch up the male gender, that we forget about even fellow female gender distribution of tech skills .
A long time ago I was invited for lunch by a couple of colleagues. During the lunch I was busy on my phone editing one of my articles on digital skills. Feeling a little bit uncomfortable, one of my female colleagues asked me why I am always on my phone. I smiled. She seemed not happy and I could see she was politely asking me to share in the discussion rather than impoltely doing something else on my phone. Honestly, the conversation was boring so I decided to change the conversation to suit my point of interest. I asked the five of them (all female) what they used their phones for. Some said to text and call, others said for Whatsapp and money transactions too. Out of the five female colleagues I had a discussion with, two were actually interested in acquiring digital skills when I told them about what I do with my phone.The other three found it boring and intimidating to learn. I immediately invited the two interested ones to my next training with women which was to take place the following month. I ignored the three others and the conversation changed to a more suitable topic.
Today with a much more mature mind in digital skills training for females, I must admit, I created inequity amongst my potential trainees, by deliberately allowing the uninterested ones not to see the need to be tech-savvy especially as teachers.It was my obligation to help them see beyond their scope as far as using an android phone is concerned.I created fellow gender divide among them, treating them equally but not equitably.
As women make progress in the struggle for our rights to equality and equity with the men, we tend to forget that all of us do not have the same learning pace.Many NGOs already exist to advocate for our female rights and tech skill acquisition.The problem now lies in how equitable the struggle should be.
Meanwhile we encourage young girls to go for science , technology and mathematics(STEM) we tend to minimize how important it is for those who are not STEM oriented to develop tech skills to smoothen the gender equality and equity struggle.
Here is what I suggest.
In order for every woman, to be considered in the "DigitAll " struggle.
Let there be programs, ranging from women in STEM to female teachers and girl students, to uneducated females and girls . Each of them would be learning to acquire the necessary "digital" input necessary for their survival and interaction in a fast growing tech world. Consider this sketch below.
In the sketch above, for each sector identified their group of female experts will draw a convenient tech-savvy program for them. In this way, we avoid the knowledge gap that exists among females in technology.
Summarily, the struggle should shift from gender equality to fellow female gender equality and equity in digital skill acquisition.
Reference
Noreen Q. February 8, 2021 -
Equality and Equity – The Difference Between the Two and Why It Matters
ITU,2022-The gender digital divide
So enlightening!