Zim women battle ICT access challenges

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

Zimbabwe’s young women are facing  internet access challenges,  a move which is affecting their digital human rights as set out in the African Declaration of Internet Rights  and Freedoms.

Access to the internet was also declared a basic human right by the United Nations in 2016, which also cited gender equality and women’s empowerment and innovation as driving forces to reach the 2030 objectives.

Rural women are the least connected to ICTs, access to the internet and other digital technologies, one of the challenges being faced by girls and women, particularly in developing countries.

Hope for Children and Youth Foundation director Vusumuzi Ndlovu said most job opportunities are advertised in the digital spaces, meaning women and girls miss such opportunities.

Hope For Children and Youth Foundation is a non governmental organisation that  advocates for youth and women’s participation in local governance, advocating for reduction of devastating social and emotional  impact of poverty, conflict, HIV and Aids in the society.

“The lack of access to digital spaces by young women and girls is a serious issue which needs attention. We realise that the global world is fast moving towards digital communication. If the girl child does not have access to these digital communication skills it means they lose out on opportunities. We also observe and realise that most job opportunities are advertised in the digital spaces rather than print media or firstly in the digital space then later on print media,” Ndlovu said.

He said it’s difficult for those who are in the rural setup  for them to go to towns to access the internet.

“We see most job adverts  done via the internet. This means chances of one to be considered are slimmer as the application will be sent later than others.

“We also realised that those who are in the rural setup  find it difficult to get the money to go to the urban settings or towns for them to hand over the application. It becomes cumbersome,” he said.

Ndlovu said most girls are not considered to be in need of the ICT equipment as compared to boys.

“It’s very prudent that we have people from poor backgrounds, from various diverse backgrounds having access to digital communication. It’s quite worrisome if we are to look into the issues of girls, the lack of access to digital spaces because most girls are not considered to be in need of ICT equipment as compared to boys.

“The belief has been that the boy should be clever, they should use the gadgets that means even when one has for example a phone the time they will take as a girl child for them to get used to how to use it.

“It becomes quite a lot because they might get to use it at a later stage as compared to boys.

“Women are facing a critical challenge in terms of communication. There’s poor coverage in most parts and one has to walk for long distances to reach a few or isolated mobile hotspots.

“The situation is affecting our lives and just imagine a person having to get to a mountain to make a phone call, it’s a nightmare,” he said.

According to a recent report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), globally, the Internet gender gap is about 25% in developing countries overall.

But, it’s higher in sub-Saharan Africa where it accounts for more than 40%.

The report further says women are 23% less likely than men to own a mobile phone in Africa.

This technology-centered problem is no doubt adding to other gender inequalities already affecting developing countries and has been exacerbated and brought into sharp focus by the coronavirus pandemic.

The gender divide in the use of the ICTs in sub-Saharan Africa has also seen a majority of women failing to access emerging opportunities, resources and information they can use to enhance their economic and social well being.

Gender and ICT experts in Zimbabwe say while there has been a lot of talk about the importance of ICTs in dissemination of information, little attention has been paid to address the digital gap between females and their male counterparts.