Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Women and girls are joining Chad's internet revolution

Women and girls are joining Chad's internet revolution

New opportunities are allowing women in the central African country to enter the tech field.

The internet revolution is coming - old news in much of the world but not in Chad, a tech laggard where women languish at the very back of the line when it comes to connectivity.

With just 6.5 percent of the population online, the landlocked African nation of Chad has the sixth-lowest rate of internet usage in the world, according to the latest World Bank figures.

Women are even more cut off than Chadian men as so few own phones, literacy rates are low, and cultural norms dictate that tech jobs go mostly to men, according to advocates.

But since the emergence of a handful of tech hubs, coding classes and start-up accelerators in Ndjamena, women have started breaking into the field - and are now pushing hard to ensure others are not left behind.

"Technology is something that will concern our whole lives," said Aicha Adoum, 35, founder of a Chadian telecoms company that is working to expand internet access in the Central African country, where paved roads and electricity are rare.

"We need to sensitise young girls," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Adoum was looked down on by family and peers when she got a job for a telecoms company because she worked at night and with men, both frowned upon.

With more women breaking into tech, this is starting to change, she said - but slowly.

At a recent tech conference in the capital, a crowd of veiled, young women glanced around hesitantly when quizzed by a 26-year-old entrepreneur.

"Has everyone here used the internet before?" Falmata Awada asked the group, pulling up a slideshow to explain what the internet is and how it works.

Several girls shook their heads to say "no" - they had never been online.

Yet, all were high school or college students in the capital Ndjamena, and all had come to attend a conference on women in digital technology and entrepreneurship.

Women across sub-Saharan Africa are 15 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than men and 41 percent less likely to use mobile internet, largely due to gender gaps in income and literacy, according to the telecoms industry body GSMA.

The widest gender gaps tend to occur in poorer countries with overall lower mobile penetration, such as Chad, said GSMA.


Breaking barriers


A Saharan country, Chad has almost no economy beyond oil exports, while politics have been stagnant since President Idriss Deby took power in 1990.

Deby has periodically restricted internet access for political reasons, once in 2016 after a disputed presidential re-election and again in March 2018 for more than a year, forcing people to use expensive VPN services to get online.

But the number of mobile phone owners and internet users is steadily growing, and the cost of one gigabyte of data fell from about $20 to $2.50 last year.

"The internet revolution is coming," said Safia Youssouf, a software engineer and entrepreneur, telling young women to seize the opportunity as data becomes cheaper and more accessible.

The event on women in tech, called "Digit'Elle", was part of Chad's third annual Global Entrepreneurship Week and "Digital November", both sponsored by foreign donors and agencies of the United Nations and organised by young Chadians.

Among young leaders in the field, there is a sense of optimism. Many studied abroad and returned with new ideas.

"We see that there are problems, and we know that with digital technology we can solve them," said Awada, who studied software engineering in Senegal and returned to cofound a mobile app for pregnant women.

She received grants and opportunities through organisations such as the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Women in Africa, which Awada found out about online.

Now, she wants to help other young women.

"I have the impression that most of them use the internet only for social networks - Facebook and WhatsApp," said Awada, as some of the students at the event pulled out smartphones. "They don't know the other opportunities," she said.


Not interested


While "Digital November" was long on inspiration, some of the concrete efforts to involve women and girls fell short.

At tech hub WenakLabs, a two-day digital training course for high school girls was meant to include 40 students, but only nine attended. Some parents refused to let their daughters go and some schools did not follow up on the offer.

"With women, it's slightly complicated," said WenakLabs founder Abdelsalam Safi.

"More women come in with start-up ideas, in general, but they are not very interested in digital," he said, explaining that it is seen as a male field, short on female training and support.

Several women said barriers were largely in their heads.

"Girls tell themselves it's hard and not for them," said 28-year-old entrepreneur Zam-zam Djorkode, who studied coding in Cameroon.

It is still widely accepted in Chad that a women's duties are in the home, locals said.

Only 12 percent of Chadian girls attend secondary school, half the attendance rate of boys, according to UN data.

The World Bank estimates that 1 percent of women in the workforce have a salaried job, against 10 percent of men.

"As a woman, you will see your responsibilities grow every day," Youssouf told the gathered students, referring to housework and childbearing.

"Use technology to open up, and you'll realise you want to change your daily lives," she said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×