Gender Division Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Mainga Kabika, has called for greater collaboration in the enhancement of digital rights and online safety to promote technological empowerment of women and girls.
The Permanent Secretary was speaking at a high level event held under the theme, “Strengthening digital rights and online safety to protect and promote girls and women’s technological empowerment,” on the sidelines of the 67th Session of the Commission on Status of Women in New York.
Mrs Kabika said digital technology has the potential of enhancing economic growth and expanding opportunities to which women and girls should not be left behind.
“Women have continued to lag behind in terms of access to digital technology as compared to our male counterparts. There is a lot we need to do to ensure that we have a safe and more inclusive digital space,” she said.
Mrs. Kabika noted that access to affordable digital technology has been a major challenge as observed in many countries.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary said the Zambian Government was ready to partner with other cooperating partners to ensure that affordable infrastructure and internet services are made available in rural areas to enhance accessibility by women and girls.
“This is a sure way of ensuring that women and girls have increased access to digital technology. We need to make the digital space more secure even as we are promoting technology empowerment for women and girls,” said Mrs Kabika.