Cayetano urges women to learn tech

SENATOR Pia Cayetano is urging women, particularly housewives and market vendors, to use artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to their advantage.

During her visit to Cebu City for Women’s Month celebration, Cayetano told women members of the Cebu Coalition of United Vendors Association (CCUVA) the importance of embracing advancements and integrating them into their daily lives.

“What we are told by experts is that instead of just being afraid, we should act upon it. We have to understand what it is,” she said.

In an interview on Thursday, March 9, 2024, Cayetano said every Filipina, including vendors, can use AI and technology, for example, in running a business, such as a means to sell and attract customers online.

The senator said she will be pushing for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to come up with a program that will teach women about content creation on social media.

She said for women to utilize and maximize the features of social media platforms, they should be upskilled through available training.

Cayetano added that the Tesda program will be beneficial if it is made widely available to women who want to seek a future in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies or the call center industry.

“I would like to see, whether you are a market vendor or mother who has been working for a decade since you are raising your child... and you want to see if you have the prospect to work for a BPO or company,” she said.

For her part, CCUVA chairperson Maria Pino said training mothers and women vendors will open doors of opportunities for them and boost their sales.

Pino said during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of them opted to sell online the goods that they were selling at Carbon Market to optimize sales, since there were restrictions due to the pandemic.

“It will help us, since even those who are not educated or did not go to school, own and know how to use a cellphone. Slowly, they learned how to open the phone, text, call, and read... So with it, we can sell online,” she said.

There are around 5,000 members of CCUVA, of which approximately 70 percent or around 3,500 are women.

CCUVA was a beneficiary of the Presyo, Trabaho, Kita/Kaayusan program of sibling senators Pia and Alan Cayetano.

In 2014, the association received a total of P350,000 from the program which allowed members to lend money and use it to set up a business. Pino said the funds grew to over P1 million.

Meanwhile, during her visit, Cayetano also introduced the sports padel, in a sports clinic in Barangay Pardo on Thursday, March 7.

Padel is a racket sport that combines elements of tennis and squash. It is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court about a third of the size of a tennis court. The sport is growing in popularity worldwide.

Cayetano brought in a coach from Padel Pilipinas Federation, the country’s authority in the field, and used a tennis court to introduce participants to the sport since there is yet no padel court in Cebu City.