Digital Divide: the new face of gender inequality

The largest international intergovernmental forum for the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), successfully concluded its 67th session from March 6–17 by recognizing the crucial role that technology and innovation play in achieving gender equality.

The CSW this year offered a rare chance to discuss how to create a future in which technology helps to change harmful social norms, amplifies the voices of women, combats online harassment, encourages safe and equitable usage, and distributes the benefits of digitalization equally in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The accomplishment of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs depends on the incorporation of a gender perspective in technology and innovation. In the CSW67 Ministerial Roundtable, MOWCA, stated that government has the commitment to ensure 30% women participation in ICT by 2030 and 50% participation by 2041. 

How to use technology and innovation for gender equality is examined in the UN secretary-report general’s on the priority theme “Innovation and technological transformation, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” It clarifies four significant challenges pertaining to Access, Ecosystems, Design, and Safety. 

Source: The Daily Star