The fourth edition of the Female Leadership in the Digital Age was held this week in Candeleda, Spain.
The focus this time was on rural innovation and the importance of technology in empowering isolated rural communities, which have often been left behind in the digital age when new technologies are rolled out at a fast pace.
15 participants from all over Europe, who had been selected by a jury among thousands of applicants, gathered for a week-long programme to learn about and tackle these important issues. This involved masterclasses, team projects, active learning and group activities, themed dinners and cultural experiences.
15 participants from all over Europe were selected by a jury among thousands of applicants. Credit: ELA
“Technology enables rural women to draw on their distinctive traditions and to positively shape the future. No one should be excluded from the digital revolution, and this also includes women in rural areas,” said Berta Herrero, the Program Director of the European Leadership Academy, during her inaugural address to the participants.
The EU has made digital inclusion a key priority in its digital transition. As part of its Digital Decade goals for example, it aims to ensure that 80% of the EU population is equipped with basic digital skills and that the bloc has 20 million employed ICT specialists by 2030.
Progress towards these targets has however been slow, and underserved rural communities have often been particularly affected.
“Rural coverage is always a challenge because the costs are higher and the revenue is lower. Consequently, there is reluctance to invest in rural coverage, Tony Jin, Huawei Chief Representative to the European Institutions, explained at the event. He went on to add that technology companies are finding solutions to address.
“Thanks to innovation brought by Huawei’s AirPON solution, we are driving down the total cost of gigabit connectivity by at least 30% and reducing the deployment time by 80%. This is how we have now made it much easier for operators to build sites in villages as small 500 people,” Jin added.
Several politicians from all around Europe were also present during the week and provided their perspectives and proposed solutions to the issues.
Atidzhe Alieva-Veli, Member of the European Parliament, emphasized the importance of a strategic approach towards bridging the rural-urban divide in Europe and beyond.
“In Brussels some colleagues and I founded the European Smart Villages Forum in order to create a platform from which the smart village movement can operate,” Alieva-Veli said. "We want to generate a political milieu in the EU which is conducive to the application of smart technologies in a rural environment, thereby also addressing the demographic challenge of land flight”.
Another MEP, Iratxe García Pérez, who is also Chair of the S&D Group in the European Parliament and Honorary President of the Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation 2022, underlined that “promoting female empowerment, closing the gender gap and opening doors for women at all levels and in all sectors are key objectives of the European Union."
“I am pleased to see that three EU institutions are today, in fact, headed by women,” she said. “However, this is not enough. We have a long road ahead until equality is a reality for all – so a day should not pass without us, equality defenders, engaging in activities, actions and initiatives that seek to foster it,” García Pérez concluded.
