Desmond Iwuchukwu
As women around the world mark International Women’s Day, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Rivers State has called for the encouragement of young girls to develop an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields and empowering women through ICT.
International Women’s Day is a day set aside to celebrate women’s achievements, recognize challenges, and focus greater attention on women’s rights and gender.
The theme of the 2023 celebration is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.”
The Chairperson of FIDA in Rivers State, Adata Bio-Briggs lamented the inequalities that exist between genders in the digital technology space.
“One of the biggest challenges is the gender gap in technology-related fields. Women are still under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields, which are the driving force behind many technological innovations. This limits the career opportunities available to women and their operation and daily use of such, in a world that has largely gone digital.”
“FIDA, therefore, encourages the use of key strategies to attract more women and girls to STEM in Nigeria, such as: Encouraging women in STEM to engage in international and national collaborative scientific research, particularly engaging with more advanced countries for better exposure and experience. Involving female scientists in Nigeria in the development of STEM policies. Encouraging young girls to develop an interest in STEM and empowering women across the board through ICT,” she said.
Bio-Briggs further called for concerted efforts to encourage more women in ICT and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics STEM fields.
Meanwhile, the Gender and Development Action (GADA) has called on relevant agencies to use digital technology to empower more women in the country.
The Programme Officer of GADA, Inyighi Irimigha while speaking to our correspondent said the world is now a global village and the need for more women to utilize the digital space is now.
She said that access to the internet will empower more women in the country.
