Empowering Women entrepreneurs through ICT

Empowering Women entrepreneurs through ICT Colloquium on the role of women entrepreneurs in the development of the Maghreb 1-2 March 2010, Marrakech (Morocco)

ICT & Africa’s challenges • Based on countries development agenda • mainstream ICT in national socio-economic development plans / activities • the AISI Framework • WSIS Plan of Action

AISI’s ICT Policy Chain AISI RICI NICI SICI VICI

ICT Strategies and women ICT strategies and models can succeed in bridging the poverty gap only if there is a concerted effort towards formulation of enabling policy frameworks and avenues which create opportunities and incentives for women to participate and benefit.

AISI and Gender : opportunities • Improve the rights of women through access to information and indicators which may be used for tracking gender issues and elimination of stereotypes; • Ensure the equitable access of women to information, technology and technological education. • Enhance the role of modern communications media to promote awareness of equality between women and men.

AISI and Gender : challenges • Gender equity: women constitute 50 per cent of the population but do 60 per cent of work, earn one-tenth of the income and own 1/100 of the assets; • Women generally have more limited access than men to technology in general, to information, the media and communication facilities; • Lack of readily available information on women in society, culture and economy.

SCAN-ICT Gender dimension …Few findings Mozambique: • only 38 % of computer users in the schools were female • overall female usage tends to be less than 50 percent that of males. Senegal: • Overall men make up 83 percent of users

Gender dimension ...Few findings • Ethiopia: • The proportion of IT professionals in the total employees of the educational sector is only 3%. • Women professionals account for about 22% of the total IT experts. • The total number of IT students enrolled in the tertiary institutions in 2001/02 was 2442, from this about 27% were females • Females constituted only 23% of the IT employees

WSIS Plan of action Work on removing the gender barriers to ICT education and training and promoting equal training opportunities in ICT-related fields for women and girls. Early intervention programmes in science and technology should target young girls with the aim of increasing the number of women in ICT careers. Promote the exchange of best practices on the integration of gender perspectives in ICT education.

WSIS Plan of action Strengthen programmes focused on gender-sensitive curricula in formal and non-formal education for all and enhancing communication and media literacy for women with a view to building the capacity of girls and women to understand and to develop ICT content. Encourage the development of best practices for e-worker and e-employers built, at the national level, on principles of fairness and gender equality, respecting all relevant international norms.

WSIS Plan of action Gender specific indicators on ICT use and needs should be developed, and measurable performance indicators should be identified to assess the impact of funded ICT projects on the lives of women and girls.

Implementation of the WSIS Action Lines in Africa Findings – Action Line 1 E-strategies development involve multi-stakeholders as confirmed by 80% consulted key stakeholders – private sector, NGOs, national inst, public sector, academia, ISPs and users, women & youth, CSOs and UN. Only 2 involved religious entities, MPs and the media Role of Governments and all Stakeholderes in the promotion of ICT4D Findings – Action Line 2 Information and Communication Infrastructure 60% follow inclusive measures to include women in the information society

Findings – Action Line 4 National Capacity Building Needs 75 per cent have taken initiatives to eliminate gender barriers to ICT education and training and to promote equal training opportunities in ICT-related fields for women and girls Findings – Action Line 6 Enabling Environment 65 per cent asserted that their ICT policy fosters entrepreneurship, innovation and investment, with particular reference to the promotion of participation by women.

The Gender Digital Divide China • Source: e-Business Center, Peking University 2005

The Gender Digital Divide The Gender Digital Divide in Francophone Africa a harsh reality (IDRC, ENDA) The gender digital divide is a reality in Francophone Africa, and its extent is considerable: its composite index has a value of 0,64, which means that men have “ten opportunities” to women’s six in the vast and multi-faceted ICT sector. The gender digital divide, which is real in terms of accessibility, is even more worrying with regard to the ability to use ICTs and content, and is very serious in terms of participation in ICT decision-making.

Percentage of Internet users by gender, European countries, 2008*

Percentage of Internet users by gender, non-European economies, 2008*

Percentage of households with Internet and female labour force participation rates, 2007

Benefits of ICT –The social aspect Access of individuals and communities to information and services –The economical aspect Opportunities of the Knowledge Economy

Engendering Knowledge Networking Equitable access to ICT and the autonomy to receive and produce the information relevant to their concerns and perspectives

Creation of Intermediary Organizations • Can provide a platform for women to get actively involved within the processes. • Set-up prototype ICT-models for customisation over time. • Contribute to building capacities of women.

Creating Virtual Networks • Providing help to women communities through virtual networks backed by team of ICT volunteers and professionals. • Build technical capacities of women groups to use ICT to their advantage and can help them get linked with other communities sharing similar interests. • Setting up Prototype ICT Models

Building Partnerships In order to build effective and sustained engendered knowledge societies - it is necessary to involve strategic stakeholders from both the public and the private sectors.

Focusing on Research and Innovation Need to follow an innovative approach to ICT based knowledge networking supplemented by start-up and capacity-building support.

Thank you for additional information http://www.uneca.org/aisi SRO-NA email: mohamedt@uneca.org Tel: 212 537 717829 Fax: 212 537 715312 ISTD email:enega@uneca.org Tel :251 115 511167 Fax: 251 115 510512

Empowering Women entrepreneurs through ICT