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DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’
The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) believes women must be trained and prepared to function at all levels in this highly technological driven period. There should be no excuse for any country in the world, and Guyana with its small population and oil rich capacity should be no exception. As a matter of fact, Guyana should be able ensure all its abled people are exposed and trained according to their ability in this field that is adaptable to persons with various abilities.
This gender that has been socially disabled and economically undervalued for centuries must find equal place in the growth and development of technology in Guyana.
Women should not be left behind or considered not suitable for any job involving technology. Guyana has the resources to ensure that women’s education and opportunities are no longer limited but available for every woman and child. What we must develop to drive that capacity is the political vision and will to challenge ourselves. This calls for our leaders at all levels, but most particularly those who manage and directly allocate resources, to see the development of women and girls in Guyana as a matter of priority across the various divides.
Our vision must not only be to train them and develop them but ensure that every single one of them has opportunity in their homeland of Guyana to grow, develop and innovate.
Our wealth is attracting foreigners to Guyana. Whilst we welcome them and the skills and new ideas that they bring, we must zealously guard and ensure our local labour force is fully utilised in every capacity. No technological skill nor opportunity should be limited to any Guyanese, and where such training is not available locally then opportunities must be made available for access.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Sima Bahous, sees the absence of digital opportunity as a new kind of poverty where women and girls are being excluded from digital participation. This new type of poverty, in the technological age, stands to retard the progress made for women’s development and empowerment in the home, field, office, factory and society as a whole.
In Guyana where there is significant agricultural potential and opportunities flowing therefrom, free technological education and training should be made available to women, likewise, access to cheap and reliable telephone service and internet and reasonably priced equipment in order that they could create business opportunities and expand existing ones.
Where the world has been reduced to a global village, with the digital age, and recognised even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities and possibilities are limitless for women to organise around issues and benefit from resources that could positively impact their social, economic, cultural and political wellbeing.
In this digital age women must be given all opportunities to thrive.
