Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 7th March. UN on Mondayt opened the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York with the major gender gap in innovation and technology is the focus of this year’s gathering.
The participants across the world gathered in big apple, includes representatives from governments, the UN, civil society and youth groups, activists to examine how gender equality, empowerment and sustainable development can be achieved in the digital era.
The meeting, CSW67, will highlight online violence and other dangers women and girls face, as well as the need for quality education in the information age.
CSW67 Chair Mathu Joyini said in her opening remarks that digital technologies are rapidly transforming societies and they are giving rise to profound new challenges that may perpetuate and deepen existing gender inequalities.
“Gender-based discrimination is a systemic problem that has been interwoven into the fabric of our political, social and economic lives, and the technology sector is no different,” she said.
“However, this is compounded when you consider the multiple factors that impact and exacerbate this inherent discrimination.”
Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the CSW is meeting as progress on women’s rights is vanishing – including in countries such as Afghanistan, where women and girls have been, in effect, erased from public life – and as gender equality is growing ever more distant.
He said “Your focus this year on closing gender gaps in technology and innovation could not be more timely. Because as technology races ahead, women and girls are being left behind.”
“The math is simple: without the insights and creativity of half the world, science and technology will fulfil just half their potential,” he added.
He called for urgent action in three areas, starting with increasing education, income and employment for women and girls, particularly in the Global South as gender inequality is ultimately a question of power.
He added women’s and girls’ full participation and leadership in science and technology must also be promoted.
Guterres said the international community must also create a safe digital environment for women and girls.
UN is working to advance a code of conduct for information integrity on digital platforms, aimed at reducing harm and increasing accountability.
He stressed that promoting women’s full contributions to science, technology and innovation is not an act of charity or a favour to women, but a “must” that benefits everyone.
“The Commission on the Status of Women is a dynamo and catalyst for the transformation we need. Together, let’s push back against the push back on misogyny, and forward for women, girls, and our world,” he said.
President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi said the world needs women’s expertise to address complex and interlocking crises, such as climate change, conflict, poverty, hunger and water scarcity.
He noted that women are a minority in digital information technology, computing, physics, mathematics and engineering, and account for less than 35 per cent of the global information and communications technology workforce.
“They are 20 per cent less likely than men to use the internet but 27 times more likely to face online harassment or hate speech, when they do. New technologies, if used well, offer a strong and equalizing force to rapidly change this state of affairs,” he said in a video message.
Sima Bahous Executive Director of UN Women and other senior officials addressed the CSW opening ceremony.
She said the digital revolution offers the potential for unprecedented improvement in the lives of women and girls, and at a time when progress towards sustainable development is at risk.
“Harnessed effectively, technology and innovation, can be game-changers to catalyse poverty reduction, decrease hunger, boost health, create new jobs, mitigate climate change, address humanitarian crises, improve energy access and make entire cities and communities safer and more sustainable – benefitting women and girls,” she said.
Ms. Bahous underlined the need for “a global normative framework” to mobilize technology towards achieving gender equality. Given the pace of change.
She expressed confidence that the meeting will underscore that “digital rights are women’s rights”.
CSW has met annually since 1946, but this is the first in-person gathering since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A special segment will be held for young people to discuss the priority themes, marking another first in the Commission’s history.
Ms. Joyini outlined some of the objectives of this latest session in her opening remarks.
“We will consider the responsibilities of governments and private sector in ensuring that adequate safeguards, norms and standards exist, and women and girls’ fundamental rights are not violated while using digital technologies,” she said.
There will be calls to provide more opportunities for women in innovation, as well as funding and investment, and to eliminate algorithms that perpetuate and deepen existing discrimination and biases.
CSW67 will conclude on Friday, 17 March, and dozens of side events are scheduled in the interim.
They include the Secretary-General’s annual dialogue with women’s and feminist civil society groups, a youth forum where particular focus will be given to grassroots and community voices, and a discussion on promoting women’s and girls’ equal social, economic and political rights in Afghanistan.
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