Recognizing International Women's Day at Dimagi

International Women’s Day, which takes place annually on March 8^th, is a day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  To help commemorate this day, a few of the women of Dimagi were asked to write a response to the prompt “How does Dimagi have an impact on the lives of women?”   Their answers, featured below, demonstrate how Dimagi’s mobile technology solutions, our project implementation services, and even our work culture all have a positive effect on women worldwide.

“What makes Dimagi stand out is not just the software we deliver to women as a job aid, but the fact that we count them, train them, and eventually empower them with information that make them stronger in everyday life.”

-Mengji Chen, Senior Program Analyst

 “Some of my favorite moments at Dimagi have been watching community health workers’ reactions after the first few days of using CommCare. They often exhibit a newfound sense of empowerment, and tell stories about how using CommCare in their communities makes them feel more respected and valued. While this excitement is universal, it’s particularly palpable and powerful for female frontline workers. Women will describe feeling much more confident in the services that they are delivering thanks to CommCare. For them, CommCare becomes very personal in that it can help reduce doubts clients have in their service delivery, doubts that often exist because they happen to be women. By equipping women with mobile phones that run CommCare, clients can often abandon these doubts. CommCare enables them to see beyond stereotypes and, for the first time, fully see how smart and valuable female frontline workers are in their entirety.” 

-Gillian Javetski, Director of Communications

 “Women make up a large portion of health workers using our CommCare applications. So we put women at the center of our design process, understanding that through our mHealth deployments this may be the first time they have access to technology and ownership of their own phone. Though our software has been designed for low-literate, less tech savvy users, it’s true that they have to learn how to type on a phone to register cases. A major focus of our trainings is teaching women to learn how to type.

This example demonstrates what I find most incredible about our work – seeing how women discover new technology and the world of possibilities it can open up for them in this increasingly mobilized world. In our small ways, it might be that our work with women is disrupting one of many structural barriers women face in accessing technology and information.”

-Mohini Bhavsar, Senior Regional Manager – West Africa

---

“Dimagi impacts the lives of women all around the world, including the lives of the women that work here. It has created a space where my fellow Dimagi women and I are taking on active roles that include managing teams and projects, coding, research coordination, and working as member of the communication team in a company that sits within the male-dominated field of technology. And while Dimagi has provided these opportunities and the ability to begin closing the gender divide in tech, I would like to think that the women working here are also having a positive impact on Dimagi!”

-Meryn Robinson, Research Coordinator

---

“The women and men who work at Dimagi are engineers, public health and development specialists, business and partnership strategists. One thing they have in common is that they are among the most supportive coworkers I’ve met. In the few months I’ve worked here, Dimagi has shown itself to be as committed to creating a culture of inclusiveness and equality within the company as it is driven to creating impact in the world. This culture helps me be a happier employee- and woman!”

-Gayatri Jayal, Field Manager

“I can’t speak for Dimagi’s impact on “women” broadly, but I will say that Dimagi’s work has affected me deeply as a woman. Whenever I have had the chance to observe female frontline workers use CommCare — whether it’s at a maternity hospital, a gender-based violence clinic, or a micropharmacy — I have felt inspired by and connected to their obvious enthusiasm to make a difference. Dimagi’s emphasis on empowering frontline workers is just the beginning of a chain reaction in women’s leadership.”

-Arya Shekar, Director of Legal Affairs

---

As International Women’s Day comes to a close, Dimagi recognizes that through our mobile solutions, women around the world have become more empowered. Our entire team, (which bolsters close to a 50/50 male/female ratio) works tirelessly to ensure our projects create the most impact in the lives of the people that need it most. For more information on International Women’s Day, please visit www.un.org/en/events/womensday/