Emefiele Seeks Greater Women Engagement to Bridge Digital Gender Divide, Drive Inclusion

James Emejo in Abuja

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday called for more engaging conversations on the role of women in leveraging technology and innovation to bridge exiting digital gender gap.

Emefiele, in his keynote address during a webinar to commemorate the International Women’s Day celebration, pointed out that digital financial services had become a critical dependency in the economy.
He stressed the need to provide vast opportunities to bridge the digital gender gap, drive financial inclusion and increase employment and economic opportunities for women.

The CBN governor also restated the bank’s commitment to promoting gender equality and financial inclusion among women through such policies as the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), which dedicates 60 per cent of the funding under the scheme to women-owned enterprises.
Other initiatives included the Framework for Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion in Nigeria, which seeks to address gender gaps in access to finance, targeted onboarding of women on its central bank digital currency, the e-Naira, amongst others.

Speaking on the theme of the celebration, “Digitise Her: Bridging the Digital Gender Gap for Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Growth”, Emefiele attributed the successes recorded by the central bank to the hard work, resilience, and commitment of the female staff.
Similarly, the CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability (FSS), Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, who hosted a Coffee Table Chat with the first and former Minister of Communication Technology under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Omobola Johnson, called for broad private and public sector commitment to gender parity and ensuring that women, youth and rural dwellers have access to digital financial services.

Ahmad noted that despite increased digital mainstreaming, women were less likely than men to have access to technology, creating a digital gender gap which perpetuates women’s economic exclusion.  
In a statement, she noted that digital innovation could be the missing link and a winning strategy for fixing the parity problem and deepening access to financial services.

On her part, Johnson, a Senior Partner with TLcom Capital and who was the Special Guest Speaker at the virtual event, emphasised that inclusive innovation that was gender sensitive was critical to reducing the gender exclusion gap.
She also advocated for a catch-them-young strategy to encourage females to pursue careers in technology and the establishment of special funds for female led tech businesses to achieve greater participation in the digital economy.
She particularly underscored the importance of making Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education attractive for girls by showcasing role models in the sector. She highlighted the potential for digital financial services to enable not just financial services but important interventions in health, agriculture and SMEs.

Johnson, therefore, urged men to be deliberate in mentoring high-achieving women and their daughters in their pursuit of male-dominated careers like STEM.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum, equally stressed the need for women to learn digital skills to participate effectively alongside their male counterparts in digital financial services.
Whilst commending the CBN for its efforts at enhancing financial inclusion, she disclosed that CBN and some agencies of government, such as the Bank of Industry (BOI), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), have special funds that women can access for support.

Discussions during the panel session at the webinar focused on the strategic role of digital technology and targeted-out-of-the-box approaches to closing the digital gender gap, guaranteeing women’s access to the digital economy and improving digital financial inclusion and broad-based economic participation of women.