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IT and Woman Empowerment Case study: Irena |
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I came across IAN Telecentre quite by chance, at a time of my life when I was unemployed and had completed my university education for an economist the year before. In order not to waste time by just sitting idly at home, I had decided to attend some of the free of charge courses that were offered at the IAN Telecentre. So I ended up enrolling for these courses with the sole condition that we are to have a perfect attendance record. The courses were well organized, structured, and the lecturers were polite and dedicated individuals who had the ability to easily transfer their knowledge on to others. I have also completed English language courses here.
Lectures were organised in such a way that the individuals were divided into various groups comprising of individuals of different age and gender. Here I had an amazing opportunity to see the value of accessing the information technology (IT) for females of different age, be it girls, women, and/ ladies in their late fifties.
Experiences vary. Younger generations of females see this as an opportunity to excel in the field of IT, thus showing that they are just as talented as the rest when it comes to technical fields, even though they would still (due to the pressure of the current stereotypes) rather, and more frequently, choose to venture into other professions. The aim of educating the female population, is to provide access to managerial positions and/ various career achievements, all for the sake of economic and female empowerment. After all, this is only one of the possibilities. For those individuals, who due to their age, aren't able to use this as an opportunity for career creation, this access to IT will improve their overall quality of life. Let me explain this in different terms. I will now provide a case of a woman who attended the computer course at IAN Telecentre, at the same time as me. In her late fifties, her aim was to attend the computer courses in order to be able to learn how to use the internet so that she could speak, and see her daughter in Australia , via the use of Skype. Motives may differ, but the final outcome is the essentially the same. Namely make advancements, raise standards, and generally make ones life easier. |
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Now, to those individuals who have not worked on the computer, this may seem extremely difficult. From personal experience I can attest to the fact, that there is a doze of fear present, and that it stems from the fact that there is poor knowledge of the computer as a machine.
Getting better introduced to the computer, and thus gaining a better handle of the situation, and by doing so decreasing the level of fear that we feel towards them, means that we will in turn broaden our horizons and increase our quality of life.
Before actually completing the entire IT education in IAN Telecentar I have found employment in a company dealing with computer hardware. I still haven't reached my target position, but I feel that I am striving and moving in the right direction towards it, as this is a process which takes time. But the first step has been taken, and I am ready for what comes next. To me this just proves the fact that we should have the courage and take that step towards the unknown, and the results are bound to follow. I am a good example of this. From a girl which hardly knew anything about the computer, to a girl which now works for an actual computer company.
Once I got employed I was asked whether or not I would have gotten this job had I not known how to use the computer. I remember answering "of course not, but I also wouldn't have gotten any other job either! ".
What one needs is willpower, hard work, patience, good teachers, and hopefully many organisations such as IAN in order to connect all of us with a modern way of living, making us happier, more content and successful females. It isn't that hard to do. I can safely state that each one of us can learn how to use the computer and reap the benefits.
Read other stories:
| Maida (32) | "Life is wondrous, each day is an experience and we are uncertain what it will have in store for us. Faith had a plan for me. I used to be an owner of a party, event, planning company, and at this stage of my life the computer was of little use to me…. Faith played a trick on me. I got divorced and had to share my company offices with my now ex-husband, and was thus forced to automatically close the company. In a very short period of time I was left unemployed… Today my job is to import data into the computer…" read the whole story |
| Natalija (41) | ".Young and old, from various backgrounds, life experiences and occupations, we all had an opportunity to be useful and add to the variety and completeness of the lectures, whilst helping one another thrive and concur various aspects of the coursework. I was especially glad to see that the resistance which was expressed by many women, including myself, towards the computer was decreasing on a daily basis, and to upon completion of every module (Windows, Word, Excel, Internet, Access, PowerPoint) be replaced by the interest and desire for further discoveries..." read the whole story |
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