Government comes up with plan to bridge digital gender divide

Dar es Salaam. The government is set to introduce new strategies that will bridge the digital gender divide gap in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

The minister for Information, Communication and Technology, Mr Nape Nnauye, said on Tuesday that his ministry was in the final stages of developing a strategy called ‘National Digital Economy Strategy’ that will unveil a set of strategies that will be effective for 10 years to ensure a digital society in the absence of the digital gender divide.

Among the strategies are ‘conductive policy and legislative review to create the best possible development for all groups to actively participate in the management and use of ICT’, ‘putting in place an attractive environment for girls to study technology’ and reducing cyber tragedies affecting different groups’.

These new strategies will work hand in hand with the current laws, including the Tanzania Cyber Crime Law 2015 and the ICT Policy 2016, that support and protect internet users. Speaking at the Tanzania Women and Technology Conference that was coordinated by Launch Pad and Nnauye, he detailed that these strategies are expected to bring an end to the gender digital divide. “The world is heading towards an advanced technology era where everyone, regardless of their gender, is part of it.

According to the 2022 census in Tanzania, 51 percent of the population are women, this means that all of them have to get on board because leaving women behind means underdevelopment for the technology sector that impacts all the developmental industries,” he said. Among the government’s plans when these strategies become effective is digital protection for both men and women.

“They will not be introduced all at once because some of them will take time for investment and stakeholder involvement,” Mr Nnauye hinted.

For her part, Carol Ndosi, co-founder of Launch Pad, said these strategies will increase access to ICT for both women and men and put an end to different challenges faced by women in the digital gender divide.

“These root problems to the gap between men and women include a lack of skills and education to help them navigate different technologies, the unaffordability of devices and education on these particular technologies,” she said.

and a mindset infiltrated with societal norms as well as expectations on women. It is my hope that these strategies will be a gateway towards a well-developed tech era in the country,” she explained.

Ms Ndosi said that these new strategies will assist in getting rid of these particular challenges.