(In commemoration of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023)
By Chit Ko Pe
Recently, there was a special occasion in our college to celebrate Knowledge Management Day. It saw the exhibitors from each department of faculties sharing their in-depth knowledge with the attendees.
A particular topic – Enhancing Technology-based Active Learning through Nearpod for Post-Pandemic Education – drew my ardent attention. It focused on the use of tools like Nearpod as part of instructional delivery methods as well as technology-based active learning during/post unprecedented times of the Covid-19 pandemic. The topic does reflect the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) that falls on 8 March 2023 “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.
The women and girls who champion the advancement of transformative technology and digital education are well recognized and celebrated worldwide under the United Nations’ observance on this very day. Their involvement plays a vital role in being able to bring economic and social equality. But the reality is otherwise with gender inequality. Though the knowledge workers are of a diverse set irrespective of race, religion and region, the inclusion of women and girls is far less compared to men.
This 21st century regards the knowledge workers and their productivity as the most valuable assets in both business and non-business unlike in the 20th century whereby production equipment was a prime domain as remarkably noted by Peter Drucker, a well-known and influential thinker on management. According to his view, knowledge workers hold high-level potential with theoretical and analytical knowledge to get products and services developed at all times.
In ancient times, knowledge retainment was carried out through oral expression passed down to the generations. Later it evolved with the long-lasting way of knowledge retainment on rock surfaces where the words were engraved. In this modern internet age, it is widely digitalized, too. Likewise, the transfer of knowledge is virtually carried out via all sorts of online media enabling the connection between the trainers and trainees with interactive lessons, quizzes and real-time feedback.
From the feminine perspective, their own creative ideas, solutions and contributions that have never existed can be produced to the benefit of the whole society. Take a look at the world’s population. According to the 2021 statistics of the UN, the ratio of men to women in the world is 101 to 100. On this point, we can simply say that we lose out on about 50 per cent of opportunities to have unparalleled innovations in all aspects.
The UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report mentions that there was a loss of $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade as a result of women’s exclusion from the digital world, and the loss figure would reach to US$1.5 trillion by 2025 without action. The burden falls on technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and gender equality activists to tackle this issue.
Women and girls shall not be left behind to advance the digital technology that offers immense opportunities. It is time we need to address the humanitarian challenges with action towards gender equality.
The hands of women were, in the past, seen rocking the cradles and manning nanny chores. The present still sees this trend in many parts of the world. With our transformative action giving them unhindered access to technology, their hands can change the world with digital skills in the future.
Reference: https://www.unwomen.org/
