- 22/06/2021
- Category: Commentaries
Since early 2020, both male and female world leaders have been battling coronavirus in their own countries. Among the world countries, data shows how female-led countries perform better based on death rate and the number of cases compared to similar countries in terms of GDP and population condition but being led by a man[i]. From Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, Tsai Ing-Wen in Taiwan, and Angela Merkel in Germany. These examples show how women can perform well in leadership positions. Regardless, there is still a disparity between men and women in terms of the playing field in general.
To illustrate, there are 49.6% of women in the world[ii], but if we see the statistics for women’s representation in top leadership positions or other fields, women are underrepresented[iii]. For example, there are only 22 female state leaders in the world right now, and in 119 countries, there was never a female elected leader[iv]. When women are underrepresented, their interest is not advocated, leading to more disparity between men and women. A study has shown that there is an increase in the time spent by Congress on “women’s issues” like sexual harassment, education, etc as the number of women representations increases[v].
Women representatives and leaderships become even more necessary in this era of the digitalized world. Therefore, it is necessary to understand what can be done to continuously improve women’s leadership in society, especially in a more interconnected digital world.
To begin with, this article will emphasize the importance of why women leadership in the digital world is important. Although many things are yet to be done, one country has led the way to show how women can become excellent leaders in a digitalized country. Estonia, which is currently the digital leader of Europe has set the record to be the only country with a female president and prime minister lead. Moreover, President Kaljulaid, who has been serving Estonia since 2016, is an ally of the digital economy and cybersecurity. While other countries are still developing, Estonia is already thriving. For instance, internet access is a human right. Almost everything is already digitized, from taxes, getting prescriptions, signing documents, and many other things. The example of Estonia could show what a women leader could achieve in the digital society, and hopefully, more female leaders could follow.
There are some challenges for women’s leadership in the digital society that need to be addressed. Firstly, there is a lack of interest and confidence in learning about technology. For instance, in the past 15 years, only about 35% of women study STEM[vi]. Secondly, becoming a digital leader is also about the ability to turn them into opportunities. This ability is called entrepreneurship skills, and unfortunately, women are still lack of it[vii].
Regarding these problems, how then can technology assist in equalizing the playing field? Firstly, the myth that technology is just for man must be diminished. With more aspiring women in the tech industry, more initiatives are created to increase women’s participation in tech. In Indonesia, Generation Girl is a nonprofit organization aiming to increase women’s interest in STEM subjects through fun yet educational activities. Globally, Girls who Code leads the movement to close the gender gap in computer science. After increasing the girls’ willingness to learn more about STEM, the following steps are to educate them.
To do so, online education then plays a role. However, to ensure online education can reach all women equally, access to the internet must be first equalized across Indonesia. Another option while waiting for internet access is bringing the girls interested in STEM to learn in big cities with quality internet and infrastructure. At last, women’s entrepreneurial skills must be developed as well. Initiatives like Google for Startups Accelerator for Women Founders is a good step towards this direction, but more can be done even from kindergarten or primary school. For instance, schools could teach more about entrepreneurship and allow girls and boys to explore themselves in this field while also developing successful entrepreneur’s key characteristics.
Author: Theodore Great
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas
[i] Garikipati, S. and Kambhampati, U.S., 2020. Are women leaders really doing better on coronavirus? The data backs it up. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <http://theconversation.com/are-women-leaders-really-doing-better-on-coronavirus-the-data-backs-it-up-144809> [Accessed 10 Mar. 2021].
[ii] Ritchie, H. and Roser, M., 2019. Gender Ratio. Our World in Data. [online] Available at: <https://ourworldindata.org/gender-ratio> [Accessed 31 Mar. 2021].
[iii] UN Women, 2021. Visualizing the data: Women’s representation in society. [online] UN Women. Available at: <https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/multimedia/2020/2/infographic-visualizing-the-data-womens-representation> [Accessed 31 Mar. 2021].
[iv] UN Women, 2021. Facts and figures: Women’s leadership and political participation | What we do. [online] UN Women. Available at: <https://www.unwomen.org/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures> [Accessed 10 Mar. 2021].
[v] Carroll, S.J. ed., 2001. The impact of women in public office. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
[vi] UN Women, 2021. Facts and figures: Women’s leadership and political participation | What we do. [online] UN Women. Available at: <https://www.unwomen.org/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures> [Accessed 10 Mar. 2021].
[vii] IMD Business School, 2021. 3 barriers holding back the next wave of female digital leaders | IMD. [online] IMD business school. Available at: </research-knowledge/articles/three-barriers-holding-back-the-next-wave-of-female-digital-leaders/> [Accessed 1 Apr. 2021].
