On International Women’s Day, the United Nations called for technology to be used for a “safer, more sustainable and more equitable” future.
In a press release, UN Women recommends closing all gaps in digital access and skills, pushing women and girls to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), create technologies that respond to the needs of women and girls, and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
The UN agency highlighted the “Young African Girls Can Code” initiative, launched in 2018 by UN Women, the African Union Commission (AUC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which works to empower girls across Africa by helping them learn digital and IT skills and setting them on the path to tech careers.
The initiative aims to train a minimum of 2,000 girls between the ages of 17 and 25, in order to prepare them for a future as programmers, creators and designers.
UN Women further noted that from the infancy of computing to the current era of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, women have made countless contributions to the digital world in which we live. more and more.
However, according to the UN agency, these achievements have “imposed themselves against all odds in a sector that has never really welcomed or valued them”.
Also, women and girls remain underrepresented in the technological world, whether we are talking about the development of new technologies, their use or the regulations that govern them, reported UN Women. They are less likely to use digital services or pursue tech-related careers, and much more likely to experience online harassment or violence, according to the UN.
The UN agency further observed that over the past decade, the exclusion of women from the digital world has led to a reduction in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of low- and middle-income countries by US$1 trillion. , a loss that, without a planned action plan and proper investment, is expected to increase to 1.5 trillion dollars by 2025.