At the 67th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), that took place from 6–17 March, civil society organizations, experts and activists from around the world discussed innovation, technological change and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
The 67th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, took place this year from 6–17 March under the theme, “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”
The digital age is creating new and unprecedented opportunities to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Digital technologies are rapidly transforming all spheres of life, including our economic, social and political systems—establishing new entrance points and platforms for historically marginalized groups.
It is also creating unprecedented threats to their wellbeing. Online spaces provide new venues for violence against women, offering perpetrators increased anonymity and impunity. Discrimination in the tech sector and bias in automated systems themselves perpetuate and further entrench gender inequalities. And a lack of global laws and regulations leaves vulnerable groups further exposed to rights and privacy violations.
In the context of COVID-19 and numerous other intersecting global crises, access to online spaces has become even more crucial.
At the 67th annual Commission on the Status of Women, governments, civil society organizations, experts and activists from around the world united to face the challenges—and further the enormous potential—held by technology for the empowerment of all women and girls.
The event “Open, Safe and Equal – Shaping a Feminist Digital Future” was held at the UN Secretariat in New York on Tuesday, March 7, and brought together leaders from across sectors, including governments, civil society organizations, women’s rights activists, UN agencies and the private sector to highlight the critical role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in advancing gender equality in the digital world. The event was the first major public-facing moment for Generation Equality since its launch and presented a critical juncture to convey progress as well as action still needed by women and girls around the world.
In the opening panel, “Stronger together”, was facilitated by the Action Coalition Youth Leader Esther Mwema from Digital Grassroots, all speakers highlighted the truly unique opportunity presented by CSW67 to place gender equality at the heart of the digital revolution, as well as the critical need for collaborations which combine political leadership, expertise, and capacity around feminist digital cooperation. “Measuring, reporting, and making sure that we are delivering through partnerships” are key to closing the digital gender gap, said Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the ITU.
“Technology is much too important to be left just to technologists,” observed Ms. Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Co-Founder and Leader of <A+> Alliance. “It should be used to assist us to get to where we want to go and a new vision of where we want to be in the 21st century.” Ms. Kraft-Buchman emphasized the importance of working in collaboration with technologists to ensure the future they create mirrors the one we envision. In a video message, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized the need to apply a human rights-based approach to digitalization. “What is at stake with this year’s CSW theme is the opportunity to achieve a paradigm shift, one that can harness the potential of tech and innovation to accelerate progress on the 2030 agenda and the sustainable development goals,” noted Ms. Bachelet.
Civil society groups raised key concerns
“The gender digital divide is fast becoming the new face of gender inequality,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during a town hall with women’s civil society held on Monday, 13 March, during the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The event, moderated by UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous, gave women advocates from around the world—some veteran activists, some youth and adolescent leaders—the chance to voice key concerns surrounding women’s rights in the digital era.
In his opening remarks, the Secretary-General highlighted technology’s role in the current global pushback on gender equality: “The male chauvinist domination of new technologies is undoing decades of progress on women’s rights,” he said. After more than 100 years of progress, “technology is now reversing that trend. It is concentrating power again more in the hands of men—to the detriment of all.”
In line with that message, civil society members raised a wide range of issues related to technological advancement and growing global inequalities. Woven throughout were the recurring themes of the digital gender gap, the proliferation of gender-based violence and the exclusion of women and girls from decision-making spaces.
Many advocates were also ready with proposed solutions to the problems they named. Alison Brown, president of the International Alliance of Women, raised the idea of a neutral global internet to help protect human rights and promote women’s access to online spaces. “One global free internet for everybody” is a key objective of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the Secretary-General emphasized, also stressing the importance of increased digital literacy and online governance: “We need to have some mechanism that creates guardrails that do not put into question freedom of expression but protect namely women from the kinds of vicious harassment and bullying that we are now seeing on the internet.”
Milestone for youth leaders
The 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) marked a momentous milestone for youth representatives, who took part in an interactive dialogue around the CSW priority theme on Monday, 13 March. The event, organized by UN Women, saw the inclusion of youth leaders in the official negotiations for the first time, opening space for them to share experiences, lessons learned and best practices relating to the role of innovation and technological change in achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls.
The panel was made up of five remarkable youth activists, including Oscar Noel Fitzpatrick, a multidisciplinary activist from Ireland; Alison Adrian Berbetty Omiste, a systems engineer and lawyer from Bolivia; Hawa Yokie, an innovator and STEM enthusiast from Sierra Leone and co-founder and CEO of the Kamara Yokie Innovation Center; Aisha Mehmood, a technology and feminist activist from Pakistan and founder of Baithak-Challenging Taboos; and Milica Knežević, from Serbia, senior test developer for an international IT company and an activist for the rights of persons with disabilities from Serbia.
A major issue discussed during the dialogue was the prevalence of online violence and hate speech against women and girls. The youth representatives highlighted the importance of designing gender-inclusive tech-based solutions and advocating for digital policies that ensure equal access and opportunities for women and girls.
Source: UN Women