UN Photo/Manuel ElíasSima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, delivers a speech to mark International Women’s Day 2023.
Tech jobs on the rise
“Times are changing,” she said in her keynote address, sharing stories of how young women are using STEM, for example to increase education access for the visually impaired and to help indigenous communities fight climate change. Ms. Martin reported on global momentum towards achieving universal connectivity, noting that an ITU-led coalition has mobilized more than billion for “digital gender equality”.
Untapped vast potential
“We also have a unique opportunity…to ensure gender equality happens in our lifetime and not in 300 years,” she said, adding that digital technology can help pave the way. “No more excuses for not having digital gender equality now, everywhere.” Many attendees wore suits, scarves or other items of clothing in shades that spanned from periwinkle to indigo, in tribute to women working in tech, a sector that remains overwhelmingly male. But realizing the promise of technology also means confronting its perils, requiring action that includes closing the so-called “connectivity gap”, as three billion people worldwide are still unconnected to the internet, mainly women and girls in developing countries.
Promise and perils
“I see this room seldom so packed and so full of energy. It is a clear indication of the noble goals that we are all celebrating and representing today,” Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi said in his opening address. It can expand access to education, healthcare and financial services, and also open up new pathways into business and entrepreneurship. “According to some evaluations, the exclusion of women from the digital world has shaved trillion from the GDP of the low-and middle-income countries in the last decade,” he said.
Break the barriers
The UN chief also pointed to good news, as women are at the forefront of making technology safer, more accessible, more inclusive and better regulated. Last September, Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected to lead the UN’s specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), becoming the first woman Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its 158-year history.
Ladies first
The Secretary-General called for breaking barriers that keep women and girls offline, such as stereotypes that discourage them from studying science and maths.
She challenged countries to get more girls into STEM, to ensure equal access to digital technologies and opportunities, and “to give women a seat at the digital table and make gender equality a must in every organization.”
For Sima Bahous, Executive Director at UN Women, technology and innovation are game changers that offer huge potential benefits.
