Did you know a report on Mobile Gender Gap in the year 2018, showed that 73% of women in the country own mobile phone and 18% of them use the internet? This indicates that there is still a gender gap to bridge not only to phone ownership but also to internet access. Despite the growth of smart phones and internet access to women in urban and rural areas there is still a low number of women who are actively engaging in the digital space. Digital literacy to women is still a challenge, the notion circulating around is that the internet is not a safe space for women.
Women at Web Tanzania through the Boresha Habari Project funded by USAID, is there to break that stigma by ensuring that women can safely engage on the digital space while grasping the opportunities available. As a digital woman one needs to understand that they can use the digital space to build their brands.
Here are the tips to growing one’s brand online.
Emotional Intelligence, one of the most important aspect when one is on the digital space is to have the understanding that not all criticism or judgment deserves one’s response or opinions. One cannot control every person’s perception in regards to a topic shared online therefore as a woman in the digital space do not be quick to anger and answer back when offended.
The accounts one follows, these digital platforms have all kinds of people from different background across the world, being in the digital space itself as a woman is carrying one’s own brand especially when you want to grow your digital skills, learn to choose the kinds of content to consume and accounts to follow that will help in improving your career rather than sticking to contents or accounts with no impactful results on your career path.
The Content one shares, growing in the digital space depends with one’s potentials in constantly showcasing what they are passionate about, a female journalists will write intriguing stories and share them, an entrepreneur will share tips to becoming a successful online business owner, it is highly important to always look at the type of content you chose to share, know whether it will benefit your audience or not.
Stay updated, there are always changes when it comes to digital platforms one uses, by being alert on new security changes and features in an application it helps in enhancing one digital skills and security. If one is an online business owner, she can take advantage of the new features added that might help her network with a larger audience and eventually increase her customer base.
The Digital Space is a place for opportunities and to ensure that it can fully benefit women, breaking barriers that exists is inevitable. Violence being one of the core reasons that women fail to actively engage in the space.
With a promising number of women overcoming such obstacles and becoming fully equipped with digital skills it is possible for them to overcome the harassment and abuse online. Missing out on engaging on the online space does not only deprive, digital women the freedom to express themselves, but rather it also deprives them the ability to embrace digital opportunities available. With technology growing and changing the ways of communications more than ever we need more women to be active online.