Emma Inamutila Theofelus – Deputy Minister of the ICT Ministry – Republic of Namibia
To Emma Inamutila Theofelus, one of the best weapons in the fight for gender equality is stationing women in positions of political power.
From there, women can reach into the top tiers of decision-making and all the way down to improve everyday lives, says Theofelus, who at age 25 is a Member of Parliament in the Republic of Namibia and Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
“Representation is important,” she said. “It’s important to empower more women to take up these spaces in public office and political decision-making so that they’re able to overturn patriarchal systems that continue to hold women back.”
For example, she says, women in power can influence the finance system, which has denied women access to funding for education, business and entrepreneurship, or public health policies, such as extending maternity leaves or educational access to pregnant teens.
Theofelus spoke to the United Nations Global Compact ahead of the 15 March Target Gender LIVE, part of an initiative aimed at supporting companies to set ambitious targets for women’s representation and leadership and address barriers to achieving gender balance in business.
She has a long list of accomplishments to her name that belie her young age. She was a youth activist campaigning for gender and children’s rights and sustainable development, Deputy Speaker of Namibia’s Youth Parliament and Junior Mayor of Windhoek, the nation’s capital where she was born.
She graduated with a law degree from the University of Namibia in 2019, then moved into public service in the southwest African nation of just over 2.5 million people.
Appointed by President Hage Geingob to the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and Parliament, Theofelus is excited about what’s known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution - an era of expanding development of digital technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and robotics that are advanced, integrated and widely accessible.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is an opportunity for women,” she said. “This is our opportunity, and we cannot let it go.”
Women in public office can help take advantage of that opportunity, she said, and empower women in the private sector.
“The more women that are in public office and are trusted by the electorate to be prime ministers and presidents, to be ministers, I think it is almost natural that that will trickle down to the private sector, where they can become managing directors and upper management and leaders of industry.”
Even the mere presence of women in power trickles down to have a significant impact on individual women, she said.
“The more people that you see that look like you, that are from your background, the more it is easier for you to believe in yourself that you can also do it.”
What she finds frustrating are the stubborn stereotypes and systemic barriers that keep women marginalized. She said women running for office — and in office –- face hostile attitudes and behavior, and even abuse.
“I do not understand how women can lead a household and hold the fabric of family and fabric of communities and fabric of nations, but they cannot lead political organizations or political office,” she said.
“I feel that’s hypocritical, but that’s the society we live in, and we need to continually challenge it.”.
Will it change? The young and dynamic activist, who landed her deputy minister job in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in what she calls “a baptism by fire,” thinks so.
“I’m an optimist by nature,” she said, “and I think that’s been serving me well.”
