By Ene Oshaba,
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, has expressed concerns on the lack of access to opportunities in digital technology and economy, noting that low and middle income countries including Nigeria has lost about 1trillion dollars to women’s exclusion with another 1.3trillion dollars loss projected in 2025.
Tallen stated this in Abuja during a pre-departure meeting for the 67th session of the United Nation Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), organised in collaboration with Plan International, a development and humanitarian non-governmental organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary Aliyu Shinkafi Shehu, Tallen lamented the age-long gender bias in technology, stressing the need for women in underserved areas to have access to opportunities in line with digital revolution across the world.
She said the theme of this year’s CSW Session, ‘Innovation, technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls with review theme “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls” is expected to highlight the need for inclusive and transformative technology and digital education among women and girls in all member states.
“The exclusion of women from digital economy have shelved 1trillion dollar from the gross domestic product of low and middle income countries in the last decade. A loss that will grow into 1.3trillion dollar by 2025 if no action is taken, reversing this trend according to report will mean tackling of online violence which 38% of women are personally experiencing,” she said.
According to her, it is unfortunate that the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) on digital revolution presents a risk on existing patterns of gender inequalities, noting that it is increasingly evident that women are left behind in access to technology.
She therefore stressed the need for transformative technology for a sustainable future, adding that gender approach innovation to technology and increased awareness of women and girls regarding their rights, civic engagement and advancement in digital technology offers great opportunity to addressinb developmental challenges.
She also noted efforts by the federal government to increase the development of women and girls in technology, stating however that many women and girls are under-represented in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics(STEM).
“Globally there are minority of students in STEM education as in 35percent only 3percent of women and girls are studying information and communication technology, this directly reflects the discrimination faced around the world. As a country Nigeria is not doing badly in STEM education for women and girls but could do better.
“It has been widely acknowledged that no tool is more important in development like women empowerment and gender equality because when women participate in decision making processes and sits on an equal basis’s with men, growth and development is accelerated, death and poverty eradicated, what women do not nurture cannot be sustained,” she said.
She further reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the Beijing declaration and platform for action, adding that this year is critical for the realization of SDG2023 in women empowerment and strategic inclusion, innovation, technological change and education.
In her welcome remarks the Director women department
at the ministry Funke Oladipo, said that Nigeria as a UN member state, has represented the interest of Women, adding that globally, women should not be left behind.
“Women in Africa remain the poor, dispossessed, landless, unemployed, worker in the informal sector as expressed in the African women gender empowerment of 2018-2028. There is the need to track the SDG 1 and 8 related to innovation and access to the economy for women to increase their income level from poverty,” Oladipo said.
