“Digital platforms have made it very easy for me to transact and sell my goods online.” -Yabobo Camara
Gender equality is essential to achieving peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development. Empowering women spurs productivity and economic growth, especially in the digital world. Therefore, when women are given the opportunity in the technology sphere, they become empowered, and in the long run, their families, society, and communities benefit, which can impact future generations.
Technology has contributed immensely to advancing gender equality, as it creates a world of opportunities for sustainable development, economic growth, and access to education, and gives a voice to women. In order to harness and promote the progress of women’s rights and equality, it is paramount to use technology to address gender-based violence issues by providing survivors with response services including social, health, legal, and justice responses, sexual reproductive health and rights of women and girls and empowering and creating better opportunities for women entrepreneurs. By so doing, digital technology will serve as a catalyst for women and girls’ empowerment rather than technology being misused and weaponized against women and girls.
In commemoration of International Women’s Day on 8th March, UNFPA in partnership with ITC, UNDP, and Gambia Chamber of Commerce launched the Digital Jular Training for 22 women traders in the Gambia. The training aimed to promote the economic empowerment of women for sustainable and inclusive development. During the 3-day workshop, women were given the opportunity to access digital technology, enabling them to grow their businesses using digital platforms. The various training offered significant opportunities for small, medium, and large-scale businesses. Its popularity has enabled business owners to serve their customers with no border restrictions and promoted flexibility by creating user-friendly platforms to conduct business transactions.
Yabobo Camara an entrepreneur and a person living with a disability expressed how she has struggled over the years to market her goods to hard-to-reach areas. Having undergone this training, she downloaded new apps on different online platforms, and it has helped boost her business visibility around various platforms. Yabobo is now better informed on the importance of online marketing which is a new way of making sales for her business.
The online platform has enabled me to connect with more customers in a very cost-effective manner. I can stay at home and still embark on my business transactions. This has really made me see the importance of technology in the business arena.
UNFPA with its partners will continue to accelerate its efforts to address gender inequality and stereotypes affecting women and girls using digital technology and innovations to ensure they live a healthy and fulfilled life, as digital technology can be used as a solution to address gender inequality among women and girls.
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Media contact:
Faith Ememodo- Communications Associate, UNFPA The Gambia ememodo@unfpa.org
