United Nations Women endorse gender equality in digital world

By Business AM 

The United Nations Women, says it is dedicating the 2023 International Women’s Day, under the theme: ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, to make an urgent call for digital progress to benefit all people, especially the female gender who have been severely marginalised in the digital ecosystem.

A statement by the UN entity committed to women empowerment and gender equality, said this year’s celebration is a call to recognise the contributions of women and girls who are advancing digital technology and building gender-responsive innovations, and a reminder that innovation and technology are major drivers of change that can break negative trends and reach those who are most likely to be left behind.

According to the United Nations,despite the rising innovations and increasing utilisation of digital tools that provide new and exciting opportunities for growth and development, women around the world are disproportionately left behind when it comes to accessing and benefitting from these opportunities.

“Globally, women face a stark digital divide. Women make up only one in five artificial intelligence workers, and an analysis of artificial intelligence systems across industries found that nearly half demonstrate gender bias,” the intergovernmental organisation said.

A recent study by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) found that boys in developing countries are 180 per cent more likely to own smartphones than girls. It further noted that women and girls also face the worst aspects of the social media age, with online harassment and bullying becoming routine for far too many across age groups, professions and sectors of society. The research also showed  that at least 38 per cent of women globally have personally experienced online violence and this rate is rising.

To this end, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Women have indicated their commitment to working with all partners to harness the digital age for gender equality, building on ongoing efforts, including initiatives that promote equal participation of women and girls in science, technology and innovation.  This includes committing to:

• Ensuring that all digital learning, training and capacity building opportunities include equal numbers of girls and boys or women and men,

• Enforcing a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence and online harassment, abuse and hate speech against women and girls,

• Funding initiatives that support women and girls to create gender-responsive innovations and technologies that address their needs,

• Collecting data on the current digital gender divide and systematically monitoring progress to close gaps in digital access,

• Sensitizing decision-makers in government, business, academia and other sectors on the development impacts of the digital gender divide, and

• Increasing quality, accessibility and affordability of digital infrastructures for all.