I’m wrapping up the International Women’s Day blog from London for today, but you can keep up with all of our coverage of IWD on our dedicated page which will continue to be updated as the day continues around the world.
Thank you for your company!
Live from New York! It’s ….The UN observance of International Women’s Day!
⏰ THE TIME HAS COME⏰
— UN Women (@UN_Women) March 8, 2023
🎉 #InternationalWomensDay is here! 🎉
Join us NOW for the @UN Observance of #IWD2023, live from New York!
👇Watch here:https://t.co/yBqlIqvdce
UN Women – who set this year’s theme as “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” – have warned that the persistent gender gap in digital access holds women back.
It sounds slightly wonky, but it has serious implications.
A global analysis of 133 AI systems across industries found that 44.2 per cent demonstrate gender bias.
According to UN Women:
Women and girls remain underrepresented across the creation, use, and regulation of technology.
They are less likely to use digital services or enter tech-related careers, and significantly more likely to face online harassment and violence.
According to recent data, women’s exclusion from the digital world comes with massive costs for all, and has shaved USD 1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade, it states.
So the UN is arguing that he voices of women, girls, and other marginalized groups are urgently needed in decision-making processes.
Tech that was genuinely gender-responsive could transform innovation, empower women on a global scale and tackle inequality in the digital age, it argues.
In his message to commemorate IWD UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:
Women today make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and maths. And when women are under-represented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start. Investing in women uplifts all people, communities, and countries.
UN Women Executive Director Soma Bahous said:
Women and girls have just as much right to access the digital world and prosper in it as men and boys. Their creativity, knowledge and perspectives can shape a future where technology contributes to transforming social norms, amplifying women’s voices, pushing forward against online harassment, preventing the perpetuation of algorithmic biases, and distributing the benefits of digitalization as the great equalizer to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our vision of equality, of what our world could be, for all of us, can and will include the equal enjoyment of the fruits of technology and innovation without fear of violence or abuse of any sort.
Women and girls must be able to engage, create, learn and work, safely and productively either online or offline, making the most of all the opportunities in every sphere of life and at every stage of it, in education, in the economy, in society and in politics.
UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentarian Union (IPU) have also produced the Women in Politics map,.
The new data—as of 1 January 2023—shows that women’s voices and experiences are missing:
Less than 1 in 4 cabinet ministers is a woman, mainly leading on policy areas related to gender equality and women’s rights, while men still dominate economic, defence, energy, and other powerful portfolios
Women in top political leadership jobs worldwide represent only 11.3 per cent of countries’ Heads of State, and 9.8 per cent of countries’ Heads of Government.
Women now make up 26.5% of Members of Parliament around the world, up slightly from 25.5% in 2021.
