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IT can level the playing field for women
By Heidi Hautala and Janamitra Devan |
March 10, 2012, Saturday
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IN 2010, two Kenyan women, Jamila Abbas and Susan Oguya, were angered by newspaper reports about middlemen exploiting small farmers.
In response, the two IT professionals launched M-Farm, a company that sends farmers real-time crop prices and market information via SMS, connecting them directly with food exporters and cutting out the middlemen.
Now, less than two years later, M-Farm reaches more than 2,000 farmers in Kenya, including many female smallholders, and has won several international awards.
Abbas and Oguya represent a new class of female innovators. They have built a profitable business that empowers women, and that contributes to a more open and inclusive society. It is women like them, entrepreneurs who found companies and create jobs, who lead the way toward gender equality in the developing world.
According to the World Bank's World Development Report 2012, which focuses on gender equality, the world's 3.5 billion woman and girls still face an uneven playing field in education, employment, earnings, and decision-making power.
The report shows that gender inequality comes with a cost, while equality for women can create economic opportunities and boost efficiency and productivity.
For example, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education, and markets that men do, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million.
Women entrepreneurs in developing countries face special challenges starting companies in the formal economy and expanding them into firms with growth potential.
The World Bank's 2011 report, "Women, Business and the Law," noted that women in 103 of the 141 economies that it analyzed still face legal discrimination on the basis of gender.
The fact that M-Farm launched in Kenya is no coincidence: according to the same report, Kenya has led the world in gender-parity reforms over the past two years.
New communication technologies help as well, not only as a means of doing business, but also in lowering social barriers. Smart development programs have also played a role.
The Creating Sustainable Businesses program, a collaborative effort by the Finnish government, Nokia, and infoDev - a World Bank global partnership -has supported AkiraChix with grants in order to strengthen this model for other women-led business incubators and social hubs.
With the world population now at seven billion, we need both women and men to provide answers to the defining challenges of our era, including climate change, food security, and sustainable economic growth. The story of Abbas and Oguya in Kenya can be an inspiration to women around the world.
Heidi Hautala is Finland's minister for international development. Janamitra Devan is the World Bank's vice president for financial and private sector development. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org.
In response, the two IT professionals launched M-Farm, a company that sends farmers real-time crop prices and market information via SMS, connecting them directly with food exporters and cutting out the middlemen.
Now, less than two years later, M-Farm reaches more than 2,000 farmers in Kenya, including many female smallholders, and has won several international awards.
Abbas and Oguya represent a new class of female innovators. They have built a profitable business that empowers women, and that contributes to a more open and inclusive society. It is women like them, entrepreneurs who found companies and create jobs, who lead the way toward gender equality in the developing world.
According to the World Bank's World Development Report 2012, which focuses on gender equality, the world's 3.5 billion woman and girls still face an uneven playing field in education, employment, earnings, and decision-making power.
The report shows that gender inequality comes with a cost, while equality for women can create economic opportunities and boost efficiency and productivity.
For example, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education, and markets that men do, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million.
Women entrepreneurs in developing countries face special challenges starting companies in the formal economy and expanding them into firms with growth potential.
The World Bank's 2011 report, "Women, Business and the Law," noted that women in 103 of the 141 economies that it analyzed still face legal discrimination on the basis of gender.
The fact that M-Farm launched in Kenya is no coincidence: according to the same report, Kenya has led the world in gender-parity reforms over the past two years.
New communication technologies help as well, not only as a means of doing business, but also in lowering social barriers. Smart development programs have also played a role.
The Creating Sustainable Businesses program, a collaborative effort by the Finnish government, Nokia, and infoDev - a World Bank global partnership -has supported AkiraChix with grants in order to strengthen this model for other women-led business incubators and social hubs.
With the world population now at seven billion, we need both women and men to provide answers to the defining challenges of our era, including climate change, food security, and sustainable economic growth. The story of Abbas and Oguya in Kenya can be an inspiration to women around the world.
Heidi Hautala is Finland's minister for international development. Janamitra Devan is the World Bank's vice president for financial and private sector development. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org.
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