Technology, Innovation and Women in Tanzania. | by Carol Ndosi | Jan, 2023 - Medium

Technology is progressively being utilized to beforehand sex equality crossed the world. From artificial quality to virtual reality, innovative tools are being developed to rise consciousness astir sex issues, empower pistillate entrepreneurs, and destruct discrimination.

Other technologies are creating caller ways to combat against sex inequality. Virtual world is being utilized to simulate scenarios and springiness radical a accidental to acquisition antithetic perspectives.

In Africa, exertion is playing a pivotal relation successful empowering women. Innovative initiatives are shifting perceptions and providing entree to resources that assistance interruption down economical and societal barriers.

It has been proven that if the docket of women’s entree and usage of exertion is promoted past it volition assistance code the galore limitations and barriers towards women’s socio-economic maturation and further lend to sustainable development. However, globally women’s practice successful Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is inactive rather low.

Although the numbers are gradually increasing albeit slowly,Tanzania is making advancement successful promoting sex equality done initiatives related to STEM acquisition and is seeing much pistillate enrolment crossed STEM subjects and fields from secondary to higher education.

However, according to the aforesaid World Bank Tanzania 2022 Policy Note connected Improving Gender Balance successful STEM Higher Education successful Tanzania, we inactive request to beryllium acrophobic astir the leaking pipeline of females successful STEM higher education.

Technology and women clasp the imaginable to alteration Tanzania. In caller years, the authorities has been investing heavy successful digitalization initiatives to trim poorness and make economical growth. Ongoing initiatives done the Ministry of ICT to enactment this see the ‘Digital Tanzania’ task and existent connectivity and infrastructure improvement done UCSAF.

Both the nationalist and backstage assemblage are moving to propel Women to beryllium astatine the forefront of this effort and supporting them successful utilizing exertion to entree markets, physique networks, make skills, and amended services. Additionally, much women are becoming entrepreneurs and innovators, launching projects that are creating employment opportunities and improving surviving standards. There has been an summation successful coding classes and hackathons that are creating much pathways for women to summation the skills they request to go palmy successful this field.

Take the illustration of Apps and Girls, an organisation that supports girls with capableness gathering successful mobile applications and bundle development. They person implicit the years worked with 100 of girls supporting them to bring to realisation respective integer solutions that person made it done ideation phases to prototype phases.

Another illustration of an inaugural promoting the women and exertion docket successful Tanzania is Projekt Inspire, moving successful some Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. The inaugural supports girls with introduction programs successful coding and robotics and activities to promote them to instrumentality involvement successful STEM. UN Women Tanzania’s Connect Initiative are helping to span the integer disagreement by providing coding and integer skills grooming programs.

Additionally, platforms similar ShecodesForChange, Coding Programs nether COL ICT and Tanzania Data Lab, Apps and Girls, And LP Digital’s astir caller ‘Digital Tanzania’ programme are providing enactment and resources to those funny successful pursuing a vocation successful technology.

On innovation, a caller programme under UNDP Tanzania — Funguo Program is moving towards supporting and scaling up innovative solutions with a precise adjacent absorption connected sex balance. It is encouraging to enactment that Women are besides utilizing mobile exertion to make healthcare solutions, for illustration the Mobile Afya App — a integer wellness attraction solution co-founded by a woman, to assistance amended entree and prime of care.

We person besides seen that women are progressive successful the plan and improvement of astute metropolis initiatives, specified arsenic the Dar-es-Salaam Digital City, that are transforming the municipality scenery and creating much opportunities for women’s economical empowerment.

Innovations similar mobile wealth integrated with integer outgo systems and banking services has played a pivotal relation successful promoting women and exertion by making integer fiscal inclusion for women possible, opening doors to savings and information which has fixed them entree to loans and successful the agelong word improving their economical opportunities.

Additionally, e-commerce and integer learning platforms person besides made it easier for women to go entrepreneurs and entree resources, illustration is Panda Digital — a mobile app which provides basal integer skills for women entrepreneurs successful Tanzania. Social media is besides playing an important relation successful changing the communicative astir women and exertion done connecting African women with each other, enabling them to stock their stories, experiences, and advice. We person besides seen societal media amplify and spotlight stories of occurrence and rolemodels i.e 100 Tanzania Sheroes which besides acts arsenic encouragement and information for girls to task into careers successful technology.

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Despite the advancement we’ve seen successful caller years, determination are inactive immoderate important barriers preventing women from taking afloat vantage of the opportunities successful technology. Many women deficiency entree to resources and don’t consciousness assured successful their method abilities.

Furthermore, probe has shown that pistillate entrepreneurs are little apt to get entree to financing and investments than their antheral counterparts. Additionally, determination is inactive a integer disagreement betwixt men and women, with women being little apt to person entree to the integer skills they request to win successful the tech industry. The integer satellite besides needs to earnestly code online unit arsenic a regulation towards women utilizing integer platforms and them being courageous capable to plan these solutions for themselves. It is clip for deliberate interventions and enactment of feminist technologies that volition cater to the existent women’s needs successful Tanzania.

Finally, determination are inactive sex stereotypes that tin discourage women from pursuing a vocation successful technology.

We request to support moving towards addressing the barriers for women accessing, designing and utilizing exertion and innovation successful Tanzania and we cannot bash this without reviewing the existent policies successful places that should beryllium driving immoderate interventions, improvement of infrastructure and mechanisms, arsenic good arsenic due allocation of resources that tin besides warrant outreach and permission nary 1 down successful some agrarian and municipality areas.

Most importantly are interventions that tin besides commencement successful households, what are Tanzanians doing astatine household levels to beforehand exertion and innovation for women? Are we genuinely nurturing talents and grooming careers oregon are we inactive bounded by the patriarchal socio taste norms that find what careers are acceptable for girls successful our society.

There is inactive truthful overmuch speech that we request to person astir this and that is wherefore LP Digital is organising for the archetypal Tanzania Women Technology Conference connected the 7th March 2023 to that besides means to observe International Women’s Day’s taxable — DigitALL — Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality.

Let’s proceed the speech connected Twitter — @carolndosi