" ITREALMS: gender
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Female executives preach gender balance in tech @eBusinessLife forum - ITREALMS

Young girls aspiring to build successful careers in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have been advised to leverage the current versatility and low entry barriers in the industry to carve out distinct niches for themselves, reports ITREALMS.
Female executives preach gender balance in tech @eBusinessLife forum - ITREALMS
This advice formed the core message delivered by leading industry stakeholders during the recently concluded International Girls in ICT Day celebration, organized by eBusinessLife Communication Limited in Lagos. Centered around the theme, “AI for Development: Girls Shaping the Digital Future,” the event, an initiative spearheaded globally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), aims to inspire young women to embrace tech careers and close the persistent gender gap in the sector.

Friday, June 19, 2026

Bridging gender gap: NCC, Digital Encode, and AfriGOpay rally behind 2026 ‘Girls in ICT’ Campaign - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), alongside industry heavyweights, Digital Encode and AfriGOpay, has reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling gender barriers in the technology sector by backing the 2026 International Girls in ICT Day. Organized by eBusiness Life Communication Limited, this year’s event is set to take place at the Lagos Oriental Hotel on June 25, reports ITREALMS.
Bridging gender gap: NCC, Digital Encode, and AfriGOpay rally behind 2026 ‘Girls in ICT’ Campaign - ITREALMS
Aligned with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) initiative, the 2026 campaign is themed “AI For Development: Girls Shaping The Digital Future.” The initiative aims to sensitize and empower young girls to pursue high-growth careers in ICT, a field that remains historically male-dominated.

Thursday, December 11, 2025

PIN Report exposes widespread technology-facilitated gender violence across six African nations - ITREALMS

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67% of Respondents Victimised: Paradigm Initiative Study Uncovers Severe Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Crisis Across Africa
A new, landmark study by the pan-African digital rights and inclusion organisation, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has exposed a rapidly escalating crisis of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) across Africa, reports ITREALMS.
PIN Report exposes widespread technology-facilitated gender violence across six African nations - ITREALMS
The research, released on International Human Rights Day, reveals that a staggering 67 per cent of respondents reported being victims of at least one or multiple forms of digital violence.

Tuesday, November 04, 2025

GOCOP, IPC sign MoU to advance inclusive reporting of gender issues in democratic process - ITREALMS

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The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and the International Press Centre (IPC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote inclusive reporting of gender issues in Nigeria's democratic and electoral process, reports ITREALMS.
GOCOP, IPC sign MoU to advance inclusive reporting of gender issues in democratic process - ITREALMS
This partnership, signed on November 3, 2025, aims to ensure women and minority groups, such as Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), have a platform to participate in politics and governance.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Cardoso champions gender equity with record female senior appointments - ITREALMS

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In a significant milestone for Nigeria’s banking sector, women now constitute 35% of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directors and half of its Non-Executive Board, underscoring the institution’s deepened commitment to inclusive and representative leadership.
Cardoso champions gender equity with record female senior appointments - ITREALMS
Speaking at the grand finale of the International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations at the CBN Head Office on Tuesday (March 25), Governor Olayemi Cardoso reaffirmed the Bank’s mission to achieve gender-balanced leadership. The event marked the culmination of a month-long programme celebrating IWD across the CBN.

Monday, March 10, 2025

NITDA's Inuwa advocates for gender inclusion - ITREALMS

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The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has emphasized the importance of gender inclusion in digital literacy programs across Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.
NITDA's Inuwa advocates for gender inclusion - ITREALMS
Speaking at the inauguration of Quality Education and Girl Child Initiatives (Luminah 2030), Inuwa stressed that empowering women through technology is crucial for national progress.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Centre LSD joins 16-day activism against gender violence - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) has joined in the commemorate the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence year 2023, reports ITREALMS.

Centre LSD joins 16-day activism against gender violence - ITREALMS
A press statement by the project lead, Side-by-Side Movement for Gender Justice at the Centre, Mr. Nyong Essien noted that Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent, and devastating human rights violation in our world today and remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Alliance demands gender equity, diversity in commissioners appointments - ITREALMS

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A civil society coalition, the Alliance for Deepening Democracy (A4DD), has called on newly elected State Governors to ensure gender equity in the constitution of the executive councils of their different States while also addressing other inclusion gaps through the appointment of representatives of marginalized groups such as youths and persons with disabilities as commissioners.
Alliance demands gender equity, diversity in commissioners appointments - ITREALMS
The Alliance also urged Governors that are yet to appoint their commissioners to take urgent steps to do so in the light of the deadline for the nomination of commissioners stipulated in Section 192(6) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which provides that “the nomination of any person to the office of a Commissioner for confirmation by the House of Assembly of a State shall be done within sixty days after the date the Governor has taken the oath of Office.”

Monday, April 03, 2023

Airtel reinforces commitment to bridging gender divide, unveils Airtel Women network - ITREALMS

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Leading telecommunications network, Airtel Nigeria has reinforced its commitment to driving gender equity as they unveiled the Airtel Women network at Airtel Headquarters on Thursday, 30th March 2023, reports ITREALMS.
Airtel reinforces commitment to bridging gender divide, unveils Airtel Women network - ITREALMS
Former Securities and Exchange Commission boss, Arunma Oteh, led the conversation as the keynote speaker with the theme “Empowering Global Leaders,” and she shared her experience while lecturing female employees on becoming global leaders.

Thursday, March 23, 2023

IWD 2023: Emefiele harps on gender parity - ITREALMS

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The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has felicitated Nigerian women and called for more engaging conversations on how women could leverage technology and innovation to bridge the digital gender gap, reports ITREALMS.
IWD 2023: Emefiele harps on gender parity - ITREALMS
In a keynote address at the CBN IWD webinar in commemoration of the International Women’s Day Celebration on March 23, 2023, Emefiele noted that digital financial services had become a critical dependency in the economy, providing vast opportunities to bridge the digital gender gap, drive financial inclusion and increase employment and economic opportunities for women.

Wednesday, March 08, 2023

2023 Women Day: Access to digital technologies, education will reduce gender inequalities - ITREALMS

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Inclusive access to digital technologies and education has been described as crucial to reducing gender inequalities and empowering rural women and girls, reports ITREALMS.
2023 Women Day: Access to digital technologies, education will reduce gender inequalities - ITREALMS
This was the submission of three United Nations’ food and agriculture agencies as they marked International Women’s Day 2023.

Friday, September 16, 2022

NCC commits to bridging gender divide, Danbatta bags ‘Icon of Digital Revolution Award’ - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated its unwavering commitment to bridging growing gender-oriented digital divide to accelerate inclusive economic prosperity for all Nigerian citizens.
Prof. Danbatta of NCC
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta who restated this commitment in Lagos at the 2022 Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Tech Summit (WEETS), Thursday, September 15, 2022, where he was conferred with the ‘Icon of Digital Revolution Award’ for his role in stimulating digital connectivity in Nigeria, said promotion of gender equality is a major component of ICT development.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Gender equality: It’s time for disruption! - ITREALMS

If you are a gender champion, then you are familiar with the discussions around the glass cliff. The story of women eager to defy the odds, accepting leadership roles at times of crisis, when the chance of failure is the highest. The truth is that many bold glass cliff climbers have succeeded without falling off.

Two of such champions come to my mind: the former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcah and Tokunboh Ishmael, co-founder of Aliethiea IDF.

Mulcah, Ishmael and likeminded agents of change have already shattered the status quo. So, when the first Global Gender Summit held in Africa kicks off on November 25th in Kigali, Rwanda, the international community will hurtle towards heeding the calls to dismantle barriers to women’s full participation and advancement economic development on the continent.

Women make up over 40 per cent of African business owners yet only 2 per cent are able to access finance according to a Mckinsey report. One in four women globally who start in a business come from Africa (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor).

The Summit, organised by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDBs) Working Group on gender, will be held in Africa for the first time ever, from the 25th to 27th November 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda. This year’s summit is hosted by the African Development Bank in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and supported by other multilateral development banks as key partners.

Under the theme “Unpacking constraints to gender equality,” the Global Gender Summit will share best practices and seek innovative solutions that can be harnessed to empower women and girls in Africa and around the world.

We are excited to be bringing the world to Rwanda, a country that has set a strong example when it comes to promoting women’s rights and representation.

Rwanda was the first country in the world with a female majority in parliament, currently at 67.5 %, following October parliamentary polls. Out of a total parliamentary membership of 80, women occupy 54 seats. This feat puts the nation ahead of even the most developed nations.

From the massive financing gap for women-led enterprises, inadequate data, laws and cultural norms that negatively affect women, to a lack of representation in business and politics, the challenges are great.

But the opportunities are there too.

Discussions will focus on the main barriers to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, namely: scaling up innovative financing, fostering an enabling environment and ensuring women’s participation and voices. Sectors to be addressed will include climate change, the digital revolution, private sector and human capital and productive employment.

In Africa, women-led enterprises face a whopping $42 billion financing gap. One of the Bank’s flagship gender-focused projects is its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which seeks to accelerate growth and employment creation across African economies, by closing the financing gap for women.

Over the next 5 years, AFAWA is expected to unlock $3 billion in private sector financing to empower female entrepreneurs through capacity-building development, access to finance as well as policy, legal and regulatory reforms to support enterprises led by women.

Our Fashionomics Africa initiative supports the African textiles and fashion industries by building the capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises in the textile and clothing sector, especially those run by women and youth. By using technology as a driver for the development of skills and capacity in Africa’s creative industries, the African Development Bank aims to stimulate job creation on the continent. At the summit, we will unveil an innovative online marketplace for designers across the continent.

That’s just some of the exciting news. We will use the opportunity of the Global Gender Summit to launch a number of initiatives to dramatically transform the landscape of access to finance for women across the continent.

These include the Africa Gender Index- a joint African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) report that assesses African countries on gender equality.

The launch of the AFAWA/AGF Risk Sharing Facility, which will de-risk lending to women through AGF’s partial, guarantees to financial institutions and its capacity development to women entrepreneurs.

As well as these continent-wide initiatives, we at the African Development Bank understand that change begins at home. That is why in 2018, the Bank rolled out its gender marker system to process, monitor, and promote gender mainstreaming in all its operations, with gender specialists as part of project teams and Bank operations.

By the end of last year, 40% of public sector Bank operations had been organised under the gender marker system, a major shift in the Bank’s way of doing business and commitment to gender mainstreaming.

We continue to support and build the individual power of girls and women across the countries we work in and never has the time been more urgent.

We expect the Global Gender Summit, to be a milestone event in the empowerment of women in Africa and beyond. See you there.

* This year’s Global Gender Summit, is hosted by the African Development Bank in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and supported by other multilateral development banks as key partners.

*Vanessa Moungar, Director of Gender, Women and Civil Society

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Saturday, December 01, 2018

Nigerians dominate gender parity in 100 Most Influential Africans - ITREALMS

Nigerians have once again dominated this year’s list in terms of entries, followed by Kenyans in the New African 100 most influential Africans, reports ITREALMS.

The list, ITREALMS gathered is for the first time having gender balanced, just as quadruplet covers featured Mo Salah, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, Denis Mukwege and Ahmed Abiy.
“For the first time since publishing the list, there is an equal amount of men and women featuring in this year’s one hundred. Although this year’s listing is dominated by entries from Nigeria and Kenya, outstanding personalities from several other African countries are also featured,” a press statement from the publishers read.

The December issue is published with four different covers featuring: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Ahmed Abiy, arguably Africa’s person of the year; the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner DR Congo’s Dr Denis Mukwege; Botswana’s 32-year old Minister of Trade  Investment  Bogolo Joy Kenewendo; and Egypt’s soccer superstar, Mo Salah whose influence goes well beyond football.

The annual list has become an industry and readers’ much-awaited collation – revealing Africans who contributed in shaping the African narrative in the concluding year and envisaged to play a big role in the coming year, both on the continent and in the Diaspora.

Collated by and from its global network of correspondents and industry insiders, this year’s listing consists of some regular names, and some of them returning for the second, even third year such as businessman Aliko Dangote.  The final 2018 tally sees a drop in the number of entries for politicians, but an increase in the arts and culture section at 16 and 22 entries respectively.

In terms of countries, entries are led by Nigeria with 18 names followed by Kenya (11) South Africa (10) Egypt (8) and Ethiopia (7).

“One yardstick which we often employ when coming up with the final list is to emphasise that influence is not about popularity and popularity is not always influential. The influencer’s impact on public, social and political discourse, however, is what largely helps us determine their influence. Most importantly we focus mainly on people who have been influential for Africa’s good,” says reGina Jane Jere – editor of the magazine’s sister publication – New African Woman, who leads and oversees the 100 Most Influential Africans project.

With many reports indicating how gender parity improves the quality of governance and accelerates development, and in a year that has seen the emboldening of gender issues, with countries such Ethiopia even taking a lead in achieving gender parity in Cabinet, and appointing its first ever female President under its new reformist Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy, the magazine felt it apt to produced a 50/50 ratio in this year’s list. According to the editor of the magazine, Anver Versi, this happened as much by chance as it did by design. “When whittling down the nominees and choosing our hundred, we ended with an equal number of women and men. That was the premise of this year’s ranking but it happened naturally!”

One other outstanding feature of this year’s list is the increased inclusion of people of African descent making their mark at a global level in the African Diaspora. “This is a clear indication of the wealth of talent that our continent possesses and shows that given the slightest opportunity, our men and women can eclipse their peers worldwide in their chosen fields of endeavour,” explains Versi.


Also of note is the inclusion of men and women in the seemingly unglamorous fields such as conservation and climate change, whose work is often overlooked by the media.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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Sunday, October 08, 2017

Key ingredients to closing gender gap

Commentary@ITRealms:
Despite many countries passing the equal opportunity laws and adopted UN resolutions on women empowerment, education, access to finance, security, healthy environment, discriminatory pay packages among many other barriers still militating against equality in work places and its attendant economic growth. Kasie Abone, who just returned from World Bank IMF Spring Meeting held in Washington DC, USA reports that until these barriers were pulled down achieving comprehensive economic development will remain a mirage.
 
Gender equity and its economic implications were some of the key topics that engaged delegates at the recently concluded World Bank IMF spring meeting held in Washington DC, United States of America. The global issues which came under the theme “Gender and Macroeconomics: What Next?” had a team of high profile panelists that brought different countries and institutions perspectives on the causes and solutions to gender issues in work places. Among the panelists were former Nigerian Minister and now United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, Oxfam International Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, Norway Minister of Finance, Siv Jensen and Coca Cola CEO, Mr. Muhtar Kent.

In their individual contributions, the panelists shared their experiences on the causes of gender inequality in work places and its dare implications on economies of nations while proffering solutions on ways to have more women engage in productive ventures with equal pay, security, equal education and access to finance.

Speaking on role of UN in bridging the gender gap, Amina Mohammed identified acquiring education and the right skill sets as some of the key factors necessary to pull down gender barriers in work places and women economic empowerment. She noted that UN had shaped a new developmental agenda over the last few years. She added “It was clear that the consultations we had and the agenda we came out with in the STGs including businesses, and we challenged them on how we can move gender equality from STDs to MDGs and what do they need to take down in terms of barriers. And I think that much of what we have today are playing out in the implementation stages. So, finding government policies will incentivize that, pushing targets and indicators that we set not just for countries but for businesses and partners that are involved. That it makes good business sense; and there is economic dividend to open up the space for women at all levels.” 

She went further to say that “Incentivizing the education because I think even if you get education, what type of education; what type of skill sets are you bringing to the work place. We can’t find women in certain positions because those skill sets are not there and that is why we have to start knocking at the door of education and development. We are work in progress. I think what we need now is how to put this into national plan; we have to deal with business, we have to open our space.  The really big challenge we have now is how to put this into national plan that will incentivize business.”

In her contribution IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said IMF was committed to the inclusion of women and gender issues in its surveyance work. “We have decided not just to analyze, talk about it but to walk the talk. So, what we do now, we have 22 pilot countries which have agreed to include women issues, women inclusion in the job market, women contribution in the economy as part of the annual surveyance. And that has helped us identify for each and every one of them what policies, whether tax measures, fiscal measures, structural reform measures that can decide what will actually improve the situation of women. Another area we are pushing women is in our lending capacity in line with countries programs, and we have traction when we do that.”

She noted that IMF was working with Egypt where most women do not join the job market due to security issues and transportation. She added that IMF intervention in such situation was to ask the authority to earmark particular budget item to transport, security and childcare budget so women can participate in work places.  

Speaking from the business perspective on how his company boosts women participation in leadership positions, Coca Cola CEO, Muhtar Kent, who described himself as a “proud feminist” said the situation he met on ground when he first became the CEO about eight years ago on women leadership positions was “terrible.”  In his words “When I first become the CEO almost nine years ago, I looked at who were the sharpest of our products. At this time we were connecting with our consumers years ago by 1.3 billion times a day, 66 percent times women were the sharpest. And I looked at inside the company; the numbers for women leadership were terrible. In middle level management there were low 20s, in senior management they were in the teens. And so there was a big disconnect.”

To address this imbalance, he said his company embarked on a multiyear policy program aimed at promoting and incentivising women to leadership positions. “The whole idea was how they are going to break down the barriers, how do we hire, train, retain and promote women leaders in the company. Since the last eight years the numbers have gone up to mid-30 to mid-level managers and more importantly, the pipeline for women leadership has gone up to 50 percent now.” The effect is an increase from two to four women I boards while working towards achieving parity in a board of about thirteen members.

Coca Cola has also created the largest women empowerment programme ever undertaken by a commercial enterprise called 5 by 20 in its 206 global markets in 2010. The goal was to generate and create five million women entrepreneurs outside of the four walls of Coca Cola system. “We select women leaders, then train them in basic accounting, logistics, distribution, retain and connect them to a total of $200 million IFC credit. They get launched as farmers, distributors, retailers. We now have 1.7 million and we are on our way to reach the five million goal.

But the situation varies in from country to country. In Norway, where women in 2008 surpassed men in acquiring higher education with 40 percent representation in parliament, government anchors the drive for more women in work place on three major touch points, according to the country’s Finance Minister, Siv Jensen. These are free education up to university level which has enabled more women graduates, family friendly working life that has to do with parental leave for both parents, paid leave for sick children, flexible working hours; and the third element was affordable day care. With ninety percent of Norwegian children in kindergarten at the moment, Jensen said it makes it easier for women to take part in the work place.

Executive Director, Oxfam International, Winnie Byanyima, in her presentation gave more insights into how women can be empowered besides education. According her, education was not much a factor in the informal jobs like trade, agriculture, unskilled workers, etc. “The big issue is to increase women participation in business and what can work for their rise in companies has much to do with corporate policies. When the policies put in place works for women to juggle the roles of the family and career, when they are given incentives to rise, targets and quotas in boards and senior leadership positions. But the big issue is that women are stuck in the middle by unpaid care work primarily.” She also concurred that countries with good child care policy, public transportation facilities, equal pay and healthcare facilities tend to have more women that stay in employment.  

The Law and women equality
Inequality under the constitution surprisingly was identified to be a big issue even among civilized world. Lagarde revealed that IMF team found out that 90 percent of advanced economies, developing, middle income economies countries of the world actually have sometimes in their legal system constitutional provisions that discriminate against women. She said when the constitution is changed to embed the principle of equality, the economy’s circumstances change, the participation of women in labour force and the perennial gender gap actually reduces. She added that a universal imperative was for each country to look at the legal system and from the top to the bottom decide that that has to change.

The challenge in changing the laws, according to Mohammed was that advocacy comes in the way. Since the men dominate the parliament, the decision to change the law by implication lies with the men.’ So, it comes to equal access, equality; how do we help the ones that understand that the law has to change in allowing that to happen. Until we get more women in parliament, in executive positions making the case for it, it will be still a work in progress.”

Practical solutions to closing inequality gaps
Kent argued that flexibility and creative architecture were also key elements in promoting women in leadership positions. With the digital high level of mobility among the leadership cadre, mobility can be taken care of. This has enabled Coca Cola to appoint for the first time two African American CFOs of Fortune 50 companies as well as appoint more women at high level functions because of intensity of mobility and travel countries to countries because of the children. With technology, Kent said in a few years, barrier of mobility and office spaces will be rid of as work can be done from anywhere at ones convenience.

Byanyima listed changing the rules of economic model must change, promoting equality and reducing economic inequality, payment of minimum wage that counts towards a living wage, restoration of collective bargaining, unpaid care work, healthcare and care services, transport and using advertising to tackle social norms are some of the policy measures that should be put in place to close the inequality gap.

But for Mohammed, though the policies are in place there should be measures to incentivize the actions we get through the budget spending.” If we budget on education, how do we measure the outcome of the education we want to see; so in real practical terms, how do you help policies become actionable with the results; how do we incentivize those resources to make things work for women.”
She also suggested that part of the flexibility in work place could be investing in young women to own businesses so that they will have the flexibility to have family, career and to put money in their pockets; to make better families, communities for it. And more importantly breaking the barriers of access to financial solutions, technology, like the menfolk is key.


On her part Jensen said that when companies convert the huge number of women working part time to full time, companies will be raising their resources in addition to reducing the gender gap in the regional economy.

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Monday, September 18, 2017

Gender access disparity widens in Africa

Internet access has continued to widen on the continent of Africa despite efforts to bridge the gap between all genders, reports ITRealms.

The latest revelation is coming at the commencement of the meeting of Commission's fall session in New York City which took off yesterday, Sunday, 17 September.

ITRealms also reports that recent studies though showed that the disparities in gender access are becoming wider in developing countries, especially in Africa.

The UN report also decried the growing digital inequality between developed and developing countries.

While 48 per cent of the global population is now online, some 3.9 billion people still do not have access to the Internet – with the digital gap growing between developed and developing countries.

According to UN estimates, Internet penetration in the developing world is projected to reach 41.3 per cent by the end of 2017, while Internet user penetration is projected to reach only 17.5 per cent in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 2017.

ITRealms also gathered that in the gender divides overview, men have continued to outnumber women in terms of Internet usage worldwide, though women now outnumber men in Internet usage in the Americas.

Commenting on the report, the Secretary-General if the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Mr. Houlin Zhao, and who serves as co-Vice Chair of the Commission said "Broadband is crucial to connecting people to the resources needed to improve their livelihoods, and to the world achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”


Nkem Nweke/GEE 
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Pix: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

ICANN unveils gender diversity participation survey

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has unveiled a survey to determine current perceptions of gender diversity in the ICANN community and to identify potential barriers to participation, reports ITRealms.

The purpose of this survey, ITRealms gathered is to inform community discussions on diversity, following calls for additional data on this topic.

ITRealms also reports that looking to clarify perceptions of diversity and equality, leadership, and inclusiveness, ICANN would like to understand the degree to which barriers such as familial responsibilities play a role.

ICANN, therefore, invite all community members to share their views, stressing that the survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.

In addition, ITRealms reports that the survey closes on 8 July, just as responses would be anonymous and would be used in accordance with ICANN's Privacy Policy.

Further, ITRealms reports that this survey is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. While the survey report will be shared with an analysis of gaps, perceptions, and potential next steps.


This data, ICANN said, would help identify ways to enhance gender diversity and support broad, inclusive participation.

Nonye Dom/GEE
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Thursday, November 24, 2016

GEM-Tech 2016: A4AI recognized for commitment to tackle gender digital divide

The Web Foundation has been awarded the 2016 GEM-TECH prize for its work to develop gender-responsive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) governance, policy, and access, reports ITRealms.

The award, ITRealms gathered is an annual prize organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations (UN) Women, in recognition of efforts at promoting women’s Internet access and online empowerment through A4AI and the Women’s Rights Online programme.

These efforts, ITRealms reports, include activities such as the first-ever summit to focus on policy’s role in bridging the gender digital divide in Africa and the development of scorecards to assess policy efforts in 10 countries.

The Chief Executive Officer, Web Foundation, Anne Jellema, was at hand to accept the award at the just concluded ITU Telecom World in Bangkok.


She also called for governments and companies to react to reverse the trend of digital inequality, with specific focus on “Rights, Education, Access, Content and Targets (REACT).”

Nkem Nweke/GEE
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