Innovation Technology and the importance of Gender Inclusivity in Digital Transformation

For us to have an inclusive and sustainable future that embraces gender equity and equality, more action is needed to be taken towards DigitALL education for a transformative technology. 
Women are still lagging behind because of digital gender divide. There's an increase in the number of gender inequalities which have become evident due to lack of digital and technical skills and access to technology for women. This is an issue that needs to be addressed with emphasis on the importance of reducing digital divide gap on access to technology based on gender. 
Besides socio-economic, there are also structural and other primary barriers faced by women when it comes to access to technological resources and DigitALL literacy empowerment. This includes negative cultural attitudes that discriminate women. 

The biggest challenges facing Women to continue their profession in STEM is lack of enough women role models in Tech Industries. There are still notable stereotypes and biases towards Women in the work places. Another challenge is backlash from some men who think empowering women means less rights for men. 
In this cutting edge technology, DigitALL career women need to have a balance between work in technology and social aspects like family life through flexible and friendly working environments, support from colleagues and family members. 
Technology has improved my personal interests through networking, training and career development. 
As a woman is STEM, I believe that with like-minded professionals, we can build gender-responsive digital ecosystems that can help fill this digital divide gender gap. This can be done through initiatives like;
STEM empowerment for women and girls. 
Providing technological mentorships for women through women-led networking and employment opportunities across the globe. 
Employers to adopt and implement more diverse and inclusive programs at the work places.It is so unfortunate that most companies have not adopted The ILO requirement of 40-60% Gender Equality employment rule. This has been made 'mere dream of a sleeping person and not a vision for a working person' 
Unlike our days where ICT was an optional subject at school, it should be made compulsory at all levels of learning. 

A 2021 study titled “Kenya’s Digital Economy: A People’s Perspective,” also found that only “35% of women use advanced digital services compared to 54% of men.” The factors that contribute to this gender digital divide in Kenya include “discrimination, harmful social norms, the education divide, geography and lack of motivation.” This shows how we still have to address this agenda. 

According to Lakehub Kenya,  organization that is striving to close the gender digital divide in Kenya. In June 2020, LakeHub launched its FemiDev program which aims to “bridge the gender gap within the digital sphere.” The program provides incentives such as full scholarships to females to learn skills in “back-end web development, design thinking, entrepreneurship[and] graphic design,” among many other skills. It recruits participants through online social media platforms. 

In recent years, Kenya has made efforts to grow its digital economy and empower Kenyans with digital literacy skills. For example, in 2016, Kenya launched its Digital Literacy Programme, an initiative dedicated to providing digital devices to primary school children and training educators to give lessons through “digital learning content.” These devices are “pre-loaded with interactive digital content in Math, English, Science and Kiswahili” in order to facilitate learning. Within the first phase of the initiative, the program distributed more than one million devices to more than “23,000 public primary schools” across Kenya.Approximately 81,000 Kenyan educators received through the program. With such progress, the Digital Literacy Programme began its second phase in July 2019. 

However, this project did not succeed past second phase as there are only atleast two computers per school hence learning is difficult for pupils. 

I have been trained by Ajira Kenya Digital Program, whose aim is to train Kenyan Youth on digital skills for them to secure online remote work. If Kenya continues with this move but aim at addressing gender gap during recruitment then we will have a better future. Together with my peers, we have never secure jobs on the recommended platforms but some in other cohorts have made progress. We decided to use those skills to enhance our personal experience. 

According to UN Women, Globally, women make up 28.4% of the workforce engaged in  STEM and only 30% on average in sub-Saharan Africa. More so, more men are more likely to go online, own a mobile phone, own a smartphone, and use social media websites. A study conducted on October 2022. In Africa, there was only 19% women accessing the internet compared to 86% in the developed world. Africa's persistent digital divide can be explained by socioeconomic factors, with affordability of devices and data being key inhibitors. In my community, Out of 10 women only six own a banner phone which cannot access internet, 3 don't own any at all and one owns a simple smart phone some of which cannot access digital spaces due to their technology level. Financial contraints for network connectivity is another problem. There's need for internet connection, education and accessibility to digital resources. 

Personally, I sometimes don't attend important meetings due to lack of financial support for internet connectivity. 

I recommend that Successful Women in STEM should delve further into themes like DigitALL Innovation Technologies through education and transformative safe spaces for women in the cutting edge technology. It is so unfortunate that most innovation-oriented IT industries still face gender inequality. 

Let's fight the digital gender gap through the media.