VOF WEEK 1 (HOW DID WE EVER MANAGE LIFE WITHOUT THE INTERNET?)

There is a popular African saying that when you educate a woman, you educate a whole village. Women the world over are social creatures; we congregate in church, at the work place, at the market, at weddings, at funerals, during births, form women groups, so as to have people we can share with our thoughts, ideas, trials and triumphs.
Web 2.0 has truly made the world a global village. From the comfort of my office, home, vehicle, park bench, I can interact with people all over the world. I can catch up with friends and make new ones, learn new things everyday or simply express myself to the world at large.
Knowledge is power. Women empowerment has come a long way, but still, more needs to be done. Empowerment is aimed at creating both equality and equity between men and women within social groups and between men and women of different social groups.
The challenges faced in empowering women are many. Web 2.0 enables women to overcome some of them by first; providing an easy access to information. Secondly, it provides women with a forum where they can raise and discuss issues, sensitive issues, albeit anonymously, without any fear of retribution. Thirdly, it makes available an avenue for women to share their experiences and how they have overcome difficulties and in the process give hope to those in similar situations. Most importantly, web 2.0 gives women a voice, a chance and opportunity to be heard.
Being a woman and a social creature myself, I tend to miss out on interacting with my friends and colleagues due to my busy schedule. Web 2.0 has enabled me to communicate with fiends, colleague and even family, without the hustle and bustle of travelling. This has freed up my finances, as I can now use the would have been transport money in other ventures. I also now have access to information at the touch of a button, which, when compared to leafing through tonnes of research material, is a Miracle!