As part of the celebration of the International Women’s Day and Mozambican Women’s Day, which will be celebrated on March the 8th and April the 7th, respectively, Standard Bank is promoting a campaign for the exaltation, promotion and inclusion of gender in society, under the slogan “We Celebrate Women: Together for Digital Inclusion and Gender Equity”.
The campaign, which began in March and will run until 28 April, consists, among other activities, in the organisation of a series of debates on women’s digital inclusion, opportunities in the professional area, among other relevant issues leading to gender equality.
Through this initiative, the bank intends to contribute to the achievement of gender equality within the family, community and society, where, despite its relevance, the role of women is still not duly valued.
Speaking at the debate on the theme “Digital Inclusion and Gender Equality”, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Standard Bank, Esselina Macome, defended the participation of all spheres of society in efforts to achieve this goal, which does not only concern our country, but also the world.
“There are several roles that each one of us can play in order to contribute to the reduction of inequalities in our society. We have been monitoring what is done by the Government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), among other entities. There are different programmes in different areas connected to this issue. In other words, the fight for gender equality and respect for women’s rights belongs to all of us”, he explained.
At the bank’s level, she continued, there have been promoted programs of women empowerment, through, for example, training and capacity building for Small and Medium Enterprises run or led by women (iCreate), sharing experiences and establishing contacts between entrepreneurs (Lioness Lean), including exposure to the market and possible financiers, among others.
On the other hand, Standard Bank joined, in 2018, the UN Women solidarity movement for gender equality (He4She), which encourages men to stand alongside women in the pursuit of gender equality.
It has also defined as one of its objectives the increase, by 2025, of the representation of women in executive positions. It also aims at increasing the representation of women in its workforce.
Regarding digital inclusion, Esselina Macome said it was necessary to encourage and involve more and more women in the use of technologies, not only through education, but also by raising awareness about their benefits and functionalities.
MZNews