Empower Women and Girls Trough Technology!
Jan 21, 2015
Story
By joining the World Pulse community of inspired women and getting involved in being advocates for women and young girls in every country in the world, you can learn more about these issues, connect with other women who are leaders in their local communities, share your experience, and make a meaningful contribution to make a change.
I’m honored to join the global women movement to unite and collaborate, support and empower women and girls worldwide through technology and innovation.
The United States’ State Department recognizes 195 independent countries in the world. I believe that we can access the untapped resource of millions of talented and hard working women and girls to transform their local communities and add to the world’s economic growth. Technology is important for women and girls no less than food, water, clothing, education, and shelter. The Internet access is critical for women to earn more money and search and apply for jobs. That’s where technology can play a pivotal role. Information Technology (IT) has become a growing force in transforming social, economic, and political life globally. It’s imperative that women and young girls have access to and use of these technologies in developing countries. It enables to connect, to engage, and to create opportunities for all women and young girls. I believe that it will lead women and girls out of poverty. It will empower women to make a change in their local communities and countries.
Statistics
1.Globally, 66 million girls don’t go to school. Two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women (UNESCO, 2011).
2.For instance, women carry out of 60-90% of agricultural production activities in the developing world.
Women often cater for community, water, sanitation needs and family healthcare.
3.Nearly 1 billion women and children are living in poverty. The economic and food crisis may have caused up to 91 million more people to feel starvation. According to some estimates, women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor.
4.The International Labour Organization estimates that she economic downturn could lead to 22 million more unemployed women.
5.3 billion people have no electricity. 70% of whom are women and girls in development countries. Uganda has one of the lowest levels of electricity in Africa.
- Millions of girls and women remain un-served by the formal education system in the developing countries. Africa remains the greatest concern because African women have the lowest participation rates in the world in science and technology education at all level.
7.Rural areas women comprise of 60% of the population often lack the resources and infrastructure for technology.
8.Cost of Internet is one of the major barriers (USAID Agency for International Development, 2001). In many developing countries, less than 1% of the population male and female has Internet access. Most women use Internet at work.
9.600 million women in developing nations, or 21%, are online now.
Additional 450 million women are expected to gain Internet access by 2016.
According to Intel, In India, only 1 precent of households have a broadband connections, and less than 10 percent of mobile subscribers have Internet access. Cyberscafe are “not safe.” Girls fear to go out to the Internet cafe.
Private Internet are currently available only to elites in developing countries. Computers are still not affordable to majority of women and girls in developing countries.
In Ethiopia, 20 hours of Internet access per month for a year amounts to 8.4 times the GDP per capita. In Vietnam, yearly dialup access to the Internet cost $360, while the annual per capita income is less than $350.Google India aims to bring 50 million women online. India has 200 million Internet users. India is on its way to become the second largest Internet market overtaking US. Only 60 million of the online users are women.
Women and girls with Disabilities Lack Internet Access!
We must pay attention to increasing discrimination and abuse has grown toward women and girls with disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, 10% of women worldwide are living with a disability. It’s approximately 300 million women.
Many girls and women with disabilities are are illiterate. UNDP estimates that literacy rate for women and girls with disabilities globally may be lower that 1% (UNESCO, Science, Technology and Gender, 2007).
BIG IDEAS!
Motorola has launched an initiative to provide solar recharging stations. Launched in 2009, Motorola project has brought 55 solar-powered kiosks to Uganda that offer free mobile phone charging to local consumers. Each kiosk charged by a 55-watt inverted solar panel and can charge up to 20 phones at a time.
For local people without their own phones, the kiosks effectively functions as a local “phone booth” for making occasional calls.
(Springwise, a London-based independent innovation firm, scans the globe for the most promising new business idea. Please visit www.springwise.com)Wikipedia Zero is a project provided by Wikimedia Foundation to provide Wikipedia free of charge on mobile phones in developing countries.
Google Free Zone and Facebook Zero will give people free access to text-only version of things like Facebook news feed, Gmail, and first page of search results under things like Facebook Zero and Google Free Zone.
Empower Women, Empower Communities and Countries Across The Globe!
Women are the world’s fastest growing economic force. We live in unprecedented time to take advantage of rapid economic growth and to ensure women’s participation.
1.ExxonMobil Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative had invested more than $35 million since 2005, reaching women in 77 development countries. Please visit the website at http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/community/womens-economic-opportunity
2.Coca-Cola launched a program called 5by20 in the fall of 2010 to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs across the globe by 2020. These programs include access to business skills training, financial services, and support networks of peers and mentors. The economic empowerment of 300,000 women by the end of 2012. Please visit the website at http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/5by20/
3.Walmart’s Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative will help provide more training, market access and career opportunities to nearly 1 million women. Please visit the website at http://foundation.walmart.com/our-focus/womens-empowerment/
4.Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women project started in 2008 investing is a five-year, $100 million global initiative to help grow local economies and bring greater shared prosperity by providing 10,000 underserved women entrepreneurs with a business and management education, access to mentors and networks and links to capital. Please visit the website at http://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000women/
Female Entrepreneurship in Development Countries. Invest in Women. Access to the Internet is crucial for women entrepreneurs.
In recent years, the rate of new businesses by women has significantly outpaced the rate of new business by man across all the ethnic groups in the USA.
Similar trends are found across in the developing countries.
Women in Africa today represent 52% of population that is 805 million. According to United Nations Development Program (UNDP), it could be concluded that Africa has 6% of female workforce on higher positions. Women in agriculture work without specified hours, by doing household work, selling on the market, etc. Women did not gain respect in society which they deserve. Guillen’s work titled “Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries.” Guillen’s study covers eight parts of the world and 180 countries, from Argentina to Bangladesh to Tanzania and Turkey. In some countries, like Bolivia and Botswana, you have nearly half of all businesses created by women. By composition, that number in Turkey is only 8.9. In Ghana 55% of entrepreneurial activity is conducted by women (GEM, 2010).
Creating jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship will serve as a pathway out of poverty in developing countries. Women can drive economic growth and create more prosperous communities. Women can employ other women to created more jobs in their communities.
Every woman has the power to change her community, country, and the world. As one woman prospers, so does her community. According to Intel, it would add $50 to $70 billion in potential new market opportunities. Access to the Internet can empower women with information and freedom, give them a voice, hope, confidence, and opportunities to build their communities and countries.
Therefore the WWW: Women Weave the Web campaign will help every women across the world to connect with other women, be empowered, and make new friends across the world!
Thank you for reading my post. I welcome you all to share your stories, comments, and ideas. I hope that you all have access to Internet. Thank you for your great presence here!
