BRIDGING THE GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE IN AFRICA THROUGH STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) resource centre, joins the rest of Ugandans to Congratulate the Government of Uganda, the UN, the Global Advisory Committee and all those in partnership of Bridging the Gender Digital Divide, which is a realisation of the need for a mechanism to bring about an effective growth of an Information society in Africa, including the rural and urban poor women.

Isis-WICCE is proud to be associated with this vision as we strive to fulfil strategic objective J.1 of the Beijing Platform of Action, and the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) -Gender Caucus strategic objective, that calls for gender equality and women’s rights to be integrated in the WSIS process and outcome.

Isis-WICCE is committed to the establishment of relevant and appropriate communicative mechanisms that enhance women’s opportunities to share information, communicate ideas, and create solidarity networks in order to overcome gender inequality by incorporating their issues and needs into national and global agendas.

Since Isis-WICCE moved to Uganda in 1993, we have been able to support women individuals, groups and organisations in Uganda to achieve this goal by establishing three rural women information units in Mubende, Luweero and Iganga Districts. In Kampala we run a women’s Internet café. These initiatives have availed women and girls a supportive environment for interfacing with ICTs. Women and Girls who have benefited from these initiatives have built confidence in the use of ICTs and attained hands on skills that have enabled them to interact with their peers worldwide. Some of them have accessed employment due to the additional skills gained in IT. Some women groups have been able to use ICTs to collect, package and disseminate information for empowerment, and in seeking redress. However, the challenges faced in promoting women’s use of ICTs are numerous and require the following interventions;

§ Information and Communication Policies must be gender sensitive, all inclusive and must reflect the needs and realities of the majority of the African women
§ Liberalisation and Privatisation policies must put in place regulations that protect and empower the majority, especially the marginalized groups such as women.
§ Women and girls should be provided with opportunities in their localities to learn and use ICTs for their empowerment
§ Governments should speed up efforts to eliminate the social and cultural pressures that have continued to keep women and girls out of the public arena
§ Women ICT practitioners should be supported to develop concepts, theories and analysis geared towards developing relevant content for African women’s information needs
§ Women in conflict situations must be urgently provided with efficient and effective communication systems to be able to access the needed support in time.
§ Women must be supported with conducive economic policies that protect them from high interest rates charged by most micro finance institutions.