Digital tools should be affordable, functional, accessible ― Bisi Fayemi

The first lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, at the maiden edition of the Ekiti Digital Summit organised by GoGlobal Solutions held virtually, recommended, among others, that digital tools need to be more affordable, functional and accessible.

After being introduced by the convener, Sola Mathew Akinluyi, the first lady, who doubles as the chairperson and keynote speaker at the Ekiti Digital Summit, recounted opening her first email address in March 1995, 26 years ago in preparation for the Beijing Conference, stating that it is the only way she could register for the NGO Forum and Official UN Conference.

“There was only one women’s organisation in the UK at the time who knew what the digital space was all about, a small group called Green Net. They went around opening accounts for us and getting us registered. It opened up a whole new world for us,” she said.

Even with all the advances that have been made since opening her first email address, Bisi Fayemi, the chairperson of Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum, fears that women might still be left behind, as we often see with male-dominated structures and technologies.

She further noted that “new digital tools are empowering and can serve to support inclusive global economic growth. To seize this opportunity, it is essential that no one, especially women, is held back in trying to achieve their aspirations.

“Now is the time to step up efforts and take advantage of the digital age to ensure that it represents opportunities for women and a chance to build a more inclusive digital world.”

“Like with all male-dominated structures and systems, a gender gap will continue in the digital space if we do not make a concerted effort to close the gaps. I am sure this summit will conclude that we need a digitally savvy workforce across sectors, led by young people. We, however, need people trained in these skills to respond to the demand that will continue to emerge. If women are not a part of this supply chain, the opportunities for inclusion will be missed.”

Bisi Fayermi outlined a number of opportunities for women that have emerged, need to be explored and scaled up:

“▪ Skills acquisition: The digital economy presents an opportunity for women to acquire skills that can make them marketable and in high demand across the private, public and social sectors. Ranging from coding to software design to digital project management, data analytics, multimedia production, website development to online learning, online marketing, there are many opportunities for career development and growth that can aid women. I advise young women to identify one or two areas of interest and become an expert in it.

“▪ Entrepreneurship development: In these days of living with the fall out of COVID-19, entrepreneurs are going to be heavily reliant on the use of ICTs. Women will be able to scale up their enterprises if given access and training in appropriate digital tools. There are currently many women in Nigeria running thriving businesses online in fashion, food, make-up and agri-business. Women entrepreneurs in grassroots local communities have also been able to take advantage of digital applications to stay engaged with their customers. If you are a young female entrepreneur, continue to invest in this.

“▪ Access to resources: Digital applications have been made accessible to millions of women for them to access resources such as CCTs, business grants, elderly people’s grants, maternal healthcare and other opportunities. These are tools our governments should continue to take advantage of as a way of delivering social investment programs in a transparent and accountable manner.

“▪ Amplifying voices: The digital age has facilitated the amplification of women’s voices in significant ways. Social movements around women’s rights, sexual and gender-based violence, youth movements, peace networks, are all ways in which women have exercised agency and mobilised for change, using digital tools. This is what inspired me to get involved in creating a website and online community for learning, sharing and mentoring. In addition to the above, I started The Wrapper Network, online information, mentoring and enterprise development platform for young women.

“▪ Community building: Digital tools have played a key role in community building. With the rise in social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram, people find common interests and women are able to take advantage of this to share views and concerns. It also facilitates the creation of networks that can provide the basis for community development such as alumni associations, town associations, family gatherings and so on. There is a limitless amount of social and political capital that can be earned from the use of these opportunities.”

Her recommendations going forward include:

“▪ National and State policies on media and ICTs should be as gender-inclusive as possible in order to bridge knowledge and opportunity gaps.

“▪ Digital tools (mobile devices, applications, laptops, tablets, blue-tooth devices, smartwatches) need to be more affordable, functional and accessible. Telecommunications companies should be encouraged to keep their services as accessible as possible.

“▪ Encouraging STEM in schools for girls. There should also be an ICTs lab or its equivalent in every school where young people can learn and explore the world they live in.

“▪ Every LGA should have an ICT hub where young people can use and learn relevant tools.

“▪ More investments to enable women take more advantage of the use of ICTs for enterprise development.

“▪ We cannot talk about empowering women in the digital space without a mention of those things that might disempower them. We need more awareness-raising on the dangers of social media and how it is creating huge security risks for young women in particular – kidnapping, pornography, sexual violence, etc. It also has serious implications for well-being, self-esteem, confidence and mental health.”

She thanked the organisers for inviting her, adding that she looks forward to supporting the outcomes of the summit.

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Digital tools need to be more affordable, functional, accessible ― Bisi Fayemi