Educate, Emancipate and Empower Women

In my blog post, "International Women's Day: Women and Men Uniting to End Violence against Women," I list a number of statistics that affect women in our modern era. I define "modern" as the ability to communicate easily through advances in information and communications technology and improved access to education, social and economic development services. Technology has allowed us to better understand the inequality issues between men and women, but many of us have yet to assertain the ability to resolve these issues or more importantly, to empower women to take more control of their respective lives just as men have appreciated for millennia.

The Seattle Times published an editorial by Tim Hanstad, president and chief executive officer of the Rural Development Institute (RDI), a Seattle-based international nonprofit advocating for secure land rights for the world's poorest people (see "Access to land improves women's lives around the world"). I agree with Mr. Hanstand, "While the international community has focused on initiatives that create opportunities for women, it is important to recognize those achievements are not equally shared, and much more needs to be done for women mired in poverty." Many of the economic projects I come across should have a stronger component focusing on poverty eradication for women.

Mr. Hanstand draws a connection between land ownership and poverty, "Women represent 51 percent of the world's population and provide 60 to 80 percent of food production in most developing countries. But they own less than 2 percent of the world's titled land, largely because few have legal rights to land." Through all my extensive experiences working in the developing world, I see that women are largely responsible for food production; however, I did not realize the small number who has the legal right to own land.

Mr. Hanstand explains how "RDI developed its Women and Land Program about 10 years ago to focus specifically on gender issues around land, which have long been ignored. Research in this area is absolutely crucial. We know that deeply rooted cultural norms in Third World countries won't be changed overnight, but a lot can be done just by changing policies and laws to create political and legal space for women to assert their rights and become pioneers in this field in their respective countries. It's also important to listen to what women want and not to impose Western values on these societies and to provide legal education on the laws that are already in place."

In today's, March 13, 2009, New York Times, Nicholas Kristof published an editorial noting the recent creation of a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee dealing with women chaired by California Senator Barbara Boxer, President Obama establishing the Council on Women and Girls, "and the State Department naming a new position of special ambassador for global women’s issues" (see "Women’s issues getting traction").

Programs like the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program should have a specific focus on recruiting and training women to become entrepreneurs in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors (see "Rebuilding Afghanistan through Rural Enterprise Development"). As Mr. Kristof writes, "One of the things we've learned over the last 15 years is that you can't fight poverty effectively unless you educate, emancipate and empower women, and bring them into the formal economy."

Unlimited Potential: Making Technology Affordable, Relevant and Accessible

On October 18, 2008, I attended the 10th Annual African Day Business Forum and Celebration Dinner & Auction sponsored by the Seattle-based African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest (ACCPNW). There were several good speakers, but I found James Utzschneider's presentation particularly interesting and relevant regarding the problems presented by the digital divide (i.e., the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without) to hundreds of millions of people in the developing world and how Microsoft is providing the tools necessary to overcome these problems through fostering innovation and education. (Picture is taken during one of my trips to St. Theresa Girls Secondary School Bwanda, a private school located in Masaka, Uganda for girls 14-20 years of age. My friend, Sister Noelina Namusoke, a graduate of Seattle University who was born and raised in Uganda, is the school's headmistress.)

Mr. Utzschneider is the general manager of marketing and communications for the Unlimited Potential Group at Microsoft Corp. According to the company's website, "Microsoft, through its Unlimited Potential vision, is committed to making technology more affordable, relevant and accessible for the 5 billion people around the world who do not yet enjoy its benefits. The company aims to do so by helping to transform education and foster a culture of innovation, and through these means enable better jobs and opportunities. By working with governments, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and industry partners, Microsoft hopes to reach its first major milestone — to reach the next 1 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology — by 2015."

Speaking about the digital divide and how the Unlimited Potential vision is providing the tools necessary for people to cultivate innovative skills and enhance educational strategies aimed to eradicate poverty, Mr. Utzschneider said that it is necessary to combine to efforts of governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to promote the benefits of technology to the world's underserved population. Unlimited Potential is an ideal vehicle to overcoming these challenges through three core areas: Transforming Education, Fostering Local Innovation, and Enabling Jobs and Opportunities.

Mr. Utzschneider explained that an example of these core areas is through Microsoft's Partners in Learning initiative, which is "designed to increase technology access for schools, foster innovative approaches to teaching, and provide education leaders with tools to better engage students and improve learning outcomes." He further said that the Local Language Program was allowing people worldwide to benefit from technology while preserving local languages and cultural identities by making software available in as many languages as possible.

Speaking at the second annual Information and Communication Technologies Best Practices Forum in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso last April, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer said, "Technology alone will not turn these goals into achievements...Technology is just a tool to empower people to make progress. It is an enabler." (see "Ballmer: African Business Needs to Be More Transparent"). With the right implementation strategy, Microsoft's Unlimited Potential vision can empower the world's most underserved population with the tools to break the generational cycles of poverty.

For your reference, I am providing two additional resources about Microsoft's Unlimited Potential vision:

1. Unlimited Potential World Updates
2. Inside UP - James Utzschneider's blog to help tell the story of how his group works with partners and governments around the world to develop and deploy technology that helps improve people's lives in a sustainable way.