By Ifeanyi Uwagwu
A Professor of Mass Communication, Prof Joy Ogwezi, has advocated comprehensive strategies to close the gender digital gap, stressing that equitable access to digital platforms is critical to inclusive development and democratic participation.
The academic made this submission during her inaugural lecture, titled, Voices in the cloud: Digital Disruptions and Gender Power Dynamics in Nigeria, at Dennis Osadebay University (DOU), Asaba, today.
According to her, despite being in an era when the digital revolution is shaping the world, coupled with improved mobile phone and internet penetration, Nigerian women face barriers in partaking in valuable online discussions, accessing digital opportunities, tools and vital online information, which has had significant implications for their economic empowerment and social participation in their own country.
She posited that power dynamics shaped through access to digital technology revealed a dual narrative, that on one hand, digital platforms amplify women’s voices, enable digital activism, entrepreneurship, education, and participation in civic life, offering unprecedented empowerment opportunities, while on the other, systemic barriers and online gender-based violence constrain these potentials, reinforcing patriarchal power structures and social inequalities.
Citing the economic downside that the gender digital gap perpetuates, she stated that the around $13 billion that would have been added to the nation’s coffers was being lost due to the phenomenon.
“This gender digital gap perpetuates economic disparities, as women, without digital access, are left behind in Nigeria’s growing digital economy. According to the GSM Association, an advocacy and lobbying group for mobile communications, bridging this divide could add over $13 billion to Nigeria’s GDP in the next decade by empowering women to innovate, create, and lead in the digital space”, she said.
However, she mentioned that addressing the intersection requires multi-layered interventions, including improving women’s access to affordable digital technologies, expanding digital literacy and skills training, implementing safe online spaces, policies, and shifting cultural attitudes towards gender and technology use.
She also called for Inclusive policy frameworks and digital gender inclusion strategies, which are crucial for ensuring that digital disruptions translate into equitable shifts in gender power dynamics in Nigeria.
Such policies, she submitted, must integrates marginalised voices, such as women and rural communities, into digital strategies like the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, ensuring equitable access amid the prevailing gender internet gap, while also emphasising stakeholder co-creation, inter-sectional training, and Public- Private Partnerships(PPP), to domesticate the policies at state levels, as demonstrated by the Policy Innovation Centre’s (PIC) engagements in five states, Lagos, Jigawa, Kano, Edo, and Kaduna.
