SDG Roundtable: Innovation for women and equality

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still perpetuate bias inequality and

violence in the lives of women and girls

technological progress is outpacing

progress towards gender equality this is

not programmable

on this International women's day we

make four calls one remove all barriers

to access the digital world 2. educate

and train women and girls in stem 3.

enable women to create Tech that meets

their needs 4. eliminate online

gender-based violence today we power on

to create an equal digital future for

wall

please

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hello and welcome to the sdg Roundtable

this month gender equality champions

from around the world are gathering here

in New York to attend the 67th session

of the commission on the status of women

coming from governments the U.N the

private sector ngos the media and

Academia this year we're talking about

Innovation and technology for gender

equality

it's been less than a hundred years

since the invention of modern computers

the world has been transformed with the

internet social media and now generative

AI

gender equality on the other hand will

take another 300 years according to you

and women so the question is how can we

ensure that this rapid technological

progress drives sdg5 forward and not

deepen existing inequalities as the

Secretary General has said the math is

simple without the insights and

creativity of half the world

Science and Technology will fulfill just

half their potential the UN is

determined to scale solutions for Global

Gender equality both online and offline

my name is Anne-Marie and I'm the

executive director of un Partnerships

and I'll be your moderator joining me

are four inspiring women leaders Dr

abiola akiyodi afolabi

executive director women Advocate

research and Documentation Center Hoda

Osman executive editor at Arab reporters

for an investigative journalism welcome

on screen we've got Valentina munas

rabanal the UN secretary General's sdg

Advocate and feminist Stan activists and

hilani galpaya chief executive officer

of learn Asia welcome and thank you for

being with us

halani as we're approaching the end of

csw and have learned about the Striking

discrimination and marginalization of

women in technology

37 percent of women do not use the

internet in the least developed

countries only 19 percent of the women

are online what's causing these digital

access gaps and how can we ensure

meaningful access to technology and

digitally Empower women and girls thank

you Anne Murray

Anne-Marie you are absolutely right the

situation has improved with women's

access over time but we have really a

long long way to go now I really wish

there was a really cute answer that I

can say you know let's do X and women

will be online

the reason it's a complex set of reasons

is that because women's digital access

lies in a context of low access to a

whole lot of other factors and those

factors Drive Mobile phone ownership

adoption use and internet access

so as researchers we look at this and we

when we look at nationally

representative data from Africa Asia and

Latin America we see women are women who

are unconnected are less educated less

likely to be working less likely to be

earning a regular income less likely to

earn a high income and less likely to

have a have digital skills and a whole

set of other skills living households

with electricity and so on so these are

these compounding factors and all of

them really have a significant impact on

whether they have mobile access or not

right so the unpalatable answer while

those are the reasons so we actually

need a cocktail of solutions right to

improve women's skills

so we we had this really weird natural

experiment during Kobe 19. for example

in India 81 million people came online

for the first time and majority of them

came because of covid-19 induced uh

reasons and majority were women or women

headed households because they had to

work I needed a phone wanted to start a

business and wanted other income streams

because the husband has been laid off or

children had to study so the idea might

be to find these discontinuities in

women's lives not kovid hopefully but

something like childbirth which many

women go through and build programs

around it that give some meaningful

benefit for women owning a phone and

find the financing mechanism so we

actually solve some of that access and

ownership Gap thank you helani I'm I'm

hearing about context that we have to

look at the context that women are in

find those Milestone moments so that

peop women particularly can engage

meaningfully online and we're going to

turn to them so building our on that let

me turn to you abiola the commission

strongly emphasized the importance of

Education not only to close digital

access gaps but also into sure women's

participation in decision making how can

digital technology and education Empower

and women and girls to gain effective

participation in political economic

social and Civic life it's a lot to ask

for it is it is it's quite a lot to ask

um actually and from what you were

saying education is very critical it's

critical for empowerment and also is

also critical for advancement of digital

and you know technological learning

particularly for women and that's why

the sustainable development goal is also

very clear about the role of Education

you know in terms of being able to

achieve the sdg itself and one thing

that is also very important is

especially when you're talking about

context when you think about social

norms culture and how that affects you

know the ability of women to be able to

use uh technology it's also about this

call you know the climate the score the

issue of safety the issue of security of

the girl child in school you know

because we need the school to be safe

you know for girl child to be able to

have that kind of digital learning you

know that can help them to move from

where they are you know to 5.0 you know

to be able to be very active you know in

the society and where we don't have that

then that becomes a problem and I think

in the global South that's one of the

major challenge that we are having with

the security with insecurity uh with the

conflict you know uh for example in

Israel you know in Nigeria and other

places where girls are now being

discouraged you know from you know going

to school so it's important to deal with

that and I and I and that's why I I

would commend the U.N democracy

foundation for uh the work that they're

doing with respect to ensuring that they

keep you know girls in school and make

the school to be safe you know and are

secure I haven't said that so there's

also you need to link that you know to

the old discussion around the digital

divide uh where you know uh there are

issues of gender equality there are

issues of uh there are new nuances you

know that keep you know women and girls

you know out of that knowledge you know

ability to be able you know to acquire

the necessary knowledge if you look at

politics for example

um recently I was doing some work in

Nigeria I was an election I just

finished and I was talking and training

women who are in into politics and you

find out that some of them don't even

have a space on the internet they don't

have the apart from Facebook if you

Google their name you cannot find

anything you know and these are women

who are supposed you know to take up

leadership position so it becomes very

important to make a linkage of this to

be able to expand women's voices our

ability to resources our ability to be

able to fight patriarchy that continue

to uh put women behind and so putting

all this together

Innovation is important it's important

to who digitalize the table I mean the

decision table you know so for women to

be able you know to participate in the

decision table uh it's also become very

important to be technologically ready

you know to be part of you know making

decisions on the digitalized table

I love that the fact that we need the

decision we have to have all the tools

to be able to make the best decisions

once we're at the table and we need to

be at the table and let's dive into that

a little bit deeper one of the very

important sectors is stem and Valentina

according to U.N women 75 of jobs in

2050 not that long from now will be

related to Stem yet women remain a

minority in this area in the tech

industry men outnumber women two to one

in the field of AI which you know very

much about

only one out of five is a woman what

keeps girls from pursuing stem careers

how can we overcome these barriers thank

you so much John Marie

um well for me everything is about

achieving digital rights the digital lab

has a woman's face material disparities

such as the growing poverty gap between

men and women are increasingly mirrored

in the digital sphere

when we talk about the feminization of

poverty we also need to acknowledge the

digital jungle Gap

who are the childhoods that lost class

the most

the girls because they have less access

to the internet because they had to take

on care work at home but it's also

different to talk about the digital

divide in Europe than here in America

Latina it is crucial that when we talk

about the Gap it is through the lens of

intersectionality because that gender

digital Gap doesn't work the same for a

woman class race age location in

disability status all have enormous

impacts on access to

and in order to increase the number of

women in a stem fields we must first

digitize them it is important that we

have Equitable inclusive and universal

access to basic technological tools such

as internet access and an electronic

device and also that region the Gap is

not only providing the tools but also

providing the skills it is important

that we incorporate classes in stem

skills which are the skills of the 21st

century throughout the world

um second we need to establish the

digital violence is real violence so

making digital spaces secure especially

for women I think it's super important

it's origin also to update our policies

regarding harassment and abuse in

cyberspaces because opening the digital

space and making yours and women unsafe

could be even more dangerous than

leaving them isolated

I think we need to stop condemning women

and girls for another person and stem

careers and start questioning what we

are doing to make that access safe for

them and for all of the people

thank you Valentina and and let me take

um that idea of keeping women safe

technology is facilitating new forms of

gender violence

and harmful narratives which undermine

women online Hoda this is something that

you've been really thinking about and

it's it can lead to self-censoring and a

general reduction of interaction in

digital spaces it can also limit women's

participation in public life considering

how increasingly interchangeable digital

and physical spaces are becoming how can

this be prevented how can women and

girls rights be protected in digital

spaces

I want to start by saying I really

appreciate what you said about we're

talking about improving access to the

digital space and to cell phones but is

this space safe or isn't or it's not

there was a very important study that

was done by the International Center for

journalists with the support of UNESCO

about women journalists Online safety

and 73 percent of the women said that

they had experienced online violence

throughout their work so we have to be

very careful with this at Arab reporters

for investigative journalism is where I

work and I will just want to give you a

quick idea of what we do we support

investigative journalists working on

investigations in Arab countries many of

whom of course are females as well as

different initiatives initiatives

some focused on women including one that

is called I will not stay silent and

it's about harassment in the workspace

and how to empower women and create a an

environment where they're able to file

complaints and know their rights etc etc

also we have another project funded by

the UN democracy fund where two-thirds

of the participants were women and it's

called an Arabic men al-masool which

means who is responsible and it's about

accountability

to get back to your question I do not

think sadly that we can prevent it but

there's a lot that we can do to improve

the situation to make the space more

safe for women and therefore allow them

to participate you know more freely

journalism was already exceptionally

challenging for women especially Arab

journalists and now with the digital

components you know it has become even

more challenging so some of the things

that we can do one is to continue doing

our job as journalists to continue

actually Maria Resa the of course you

know renowned the filipino-american uh

investigative journalist who was also a

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate she said she

was the subject of a lot of online

attacks and she said our only defense as

journalists is to continue doing our

work and to continue shining the light

so one thing is to continue doing our

work the second is to raise awareness

about sometimes even online harassment

is considered by the women who are

experiencing the harassment they don't

recognize that this is harassment

because the bar is so high so raising

awareness about what is online violence

and online harassment how to deal with

it what you can do and we can do this

alone men have to be part of the

solution too so we work on training

women as well as training Demento in

this project that we did I will not stay

silent we have 12 webinars where there

was participation with lots of speakers

you know to talk about the different

subjects and we also have to be creative

in terms of who there's a lot of

misinformation out there how do we

present this we can we can do our work

we can publish it in the traditionally

you know newspapers who's going to read

it so we have to be we have to see where

are people getting their information and

use all these new tools last thing I

want to mention is that there are

incredible at least in my field and

journalism there are so many incredibly

talented and skilled uh journalists we

have a six months data journalism

diploma it's very demanding it requires

analyzing databases so many of the

participants are young female

journalists who you know learn very

quickly know how to use it and publish

amazing investigations

thank you so much Hoda and this has been

such an interesting conversation for

international women's day I had a chance

to sit down with the U.N deputy

secretary General Amina Mohammed and we

discussed the intersection between

technology gender equality and the

sustainable development goals let's take

a look

today we're talking a lot about

technology and how technology can

support women and girls in their vital

roles as agents of change for

sustainable development and peaceful and

inclusive societies it's a big mouthful

what does that mean for you

well break it down first of all for

women and girls to have access to the

technology so it's really important

whether you're talking about

foundational learning or skills that are

needed to connect you to the workplace

and to anything else you've got to have

the knowledge and so that's really

important it's important for me when I

hear that to say this is what's going to

connect networks as an activist it's

really important that I can reach out to

different constituencies and wow does

technology help you do this technology

is just opening up so much we've we're

hearing a lot about AI we're we're

hearing about Innovations every day

these different breakthroughs what are

the breakthroughs that you're looking

for to help the US deliver and keep the

promise on the sdgs well sdgs I mean the

main ask of that in delivering the

promise is access whether it is to

education to health care to jobs um to

your role in in climate uh change um and

and being an advocate for that uh

technology connects you to that and

brings the information uh allows you to

use it to Advocate allows you to use it

to frame policy and perhaps do a lot of

the research and Analysis that is needed

to get out there and to do more so I see

that in all those sectors that we can

connect it is going to be incredibly

important as I saw the other day in

Niger when a whole lot of young women

were taught robotics they were taught

the different use of Technologies one

that impressed me most of all was when

one lady was saying if I put this probe

into this soil I don't have to wait

until the fungus has already got my crop

I will be able to tell you know three

months before

um and you know she was just thrilled

with that and suddenly

um being in the Food Systems producing

food became much more exciting for a

young person it wasn't about getting

into the field with a hoe it was really

about using technology to give you a job

with dignity and for young people that's

really important another aspect of it is

connecting women to financial services

this is so important for their

independence it's also important when

you see what you need to do again I'll

use the Food Systems from production to

Market and enable women do that without

having to move out of their Community

out of that Society where they are an

instrumental part of the leadership and

social cohesion so it's it's got you

know I think

what it pretends for women is huge we

have to understand it better and we have

to make sure that we've got all the

infrastructure in place so that we don't

leave women behind but I'm very excited

about the potentials of what we can do

with technology and with women in

leadership leaving no women behind I saw

a lot of nodding as we were talking as

the DS2 is sharing her thoughts and

insights any reactions

oh I I I quite agree with that on the

issue of um social inclusion technology

goes that far you know helps in terms of

information what you need to be able to

network to be able to connect and

talking about connecting and networking

even you know sexual and gender-based

violence will reduce you know with the

advancement of Technology you know you

know you have the information you know

who to call you know what have to use

you know how to get yourself out of

trouble you know and all of that so

that's the way to go and I think it's

going to help in terms of you know

liability of issues around gender

equality can I say something

but um Mrs Amina shows that she's very

clear about the intersectionality of the

digital General Gap and I love that and

when we talk about territoriality we are

not only talking about the place where

the Gap is located with about everything

that involves living in that space we

are talking about the share history of

the people who inhabited their culture

their religious beliefs their public

policy their supply systems their

relationship with nature

um inter internet access is Virgin for

everyone but it's also different in each

part of the world which is why it is

essential to have the ability to

understand the impact that digital

rights will have in each space from its

innate diversity we must be respectful

and empathetic which lately is rare when

we talk about science and technology

especially with the globalization of

initiatives in this regard but we must

constantly remind ourselves that

technology is born from people from

their problems and what we are willing

to do to solve them together

I love that solving solution solving

problems together with Solutions halani

do you want to jump in

yeah I think a quick

secretary was saying

was saying I think you know we need to

think of women as such a useful not just

economic contributor but as a market

contributor right and and solutions have

to take into account the needs and

context so you know Amina mentioned

mobile money right in the early surveys

women would always say oh how useful is

this mobile money solution let's say in

South Africa East African country and

they would always rank it a lot less

useful than the men ranked it right and

you're like why and they use it less and

then you realize the structure of the

design of that money transfer service is

that women who are on irregular income

are more likely to pay smaller

transaction you know smaller

transactions and transfers pay a

disproportionately high fees compared to

Men Who on average make higher transfers

right so that is a market need that is

so useful to fill by a third party

provider so we need to shine the light

on sort of these kinds of unmet needs

which are really viable to serve and I

just want to come back to men and women

who also keep women down online harass

them and so on I think we spend a lot of

time talking about how women should be

safer and make themselves more empowered

I think that's absolutely important but

recognize that that conversation very

easily can turn into oh so keep women

offline that's the safest place to go

it's not I think we need to talk as much

about the perpetrators of online

violence as much as we talk about the

victims we need to count them Shine the

Light on them

thank you helani do you want to come in

Hoda I agree with everything that

everybody said and I I was a Morocco

recently giving a workshop on how to

cover violence against women and in the

room there were men and women and I have

to say that it is really inspiring and

you know satisfying to see the uh you

know men journalists also participating

and asking good questions and willing to

change the way that they've been writing

about this so yeah absolutely you know

men should definitely be part of it

so we need everyone yeah we need

Innovation we have many problems in the

world that are looking for Solutions and

I think everyone here is really

contributed to explaining some of what's

holding us back and also some of those

opportunities that are going to open

doors for us to use that Innovation for

women for equality uh

I before we close the panel I just want

to ask each of you and invite you to

share one word that's capturing how you

feel so far at csw so halani we need to

fast track this

aviola women can't wait oh like that

Valentina

feminism it's the interstitutionality

between a stem and feminism that's the

future it's a great word

one word that describes how I feel is

supported being here with you and

knowing that each one of us is working

on you know their own angle or whatever

the work I feel very supported and I

feel like you know we can do a lot

and I'm feeling about the importance of

leveraging lived experience everything

you've talked about is it has to be

tailored to the women to the communities

that we live in and thank you again for

each of you and for contributing and for

being with us and you can find out more

about the commission on the status of

women by clicking on the link below and

again a huge thank you to everyone here

and we look forward to seeing you next

time

thank you

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