The new Generation Equality Process facilitated by UN Women and co-hosted by the Governments of France and Mexico held its first global townhall meeting in June, with Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participating as one of the leaders of the Tech and Innovation Coalition.
The meeting was opened by United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, with contributions from the diverse membership who comprise Generation Equality's six Action Coalitions.
Each Action Coalition is led by a group of partners from Member States (from the Global South and North); civil society (women's organizations, movements and civil society actors from the Global North and South); international organizations; youth-led organizations; and the private sector (including philanthropic entities). Action Coalition Blueprints will play a key role in global mobilization on the Action Coalition theme, with leaders asked to make a substantial five-year commitment in the action area they are leading.
ITU's role in the Generation Equality Process facilitated by UN Women and co-hosted by the Governments of France and Mexico will be as co-leader of the Tech and Innovation Coalition, partnering with UNICEF and others. In the coming months, the Coalition will work to develop an impact-oriented blueprint aimed at accelerating progress in bridging the digital gender divide through more active engagement and participation of women and young girls.
The townhall meeting represented the first time Action Coalition leaders had the opportunity to meet as a group, and gave Coalition leaders and members the opportunity to share the overall vision, approach, and key milestones for each Action Coalitions, to reflect on the challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic; and to prepare for future discussions on Action Coalition Blueprints.
“The events of the past few months have left the global community in no doubt whatsoever that digital will play an absolutely crucial role in enabling each of the 17 SDGs. The global health emergency has dramatically underscored just how much we now rely on networks to keep us working, keep us studying, and keep us connected to friends and family. But right now, we know that women and girls don't get the same access to digital services, and aren't choosing careers in the digital sector. In fact, ITU statistics reveal that women are lagging behind men in the use of digital technologies in almost two thirds of countries worldwide," said Ms Bogdan-Martin.
She noted with concern evidence that the gender gap has actually been getting wider in the world's major developing regions – Africa, the Arab States, and Asia-Pacific, adding that new research indicated that a substantially higher proportion of men have access to mobile phones than women.
“In all cases, it is women in the world's poorest countries who are most disadvantaged, and most cut off from the potential of digital technologies to change their lives," she said.
Ms Bogdan-Martin shared with delegates to the meeting a number of ITU initiatives and actions aimed at bridging the digital gender divide, including the EQUALS Global Partnership, of which UN Women is a founding member, along with the annual EQUALS in Tech Awards, the annual Girls in ICT Day celebration, ITU's new regional 'Girls Can Code' camps and workshops, held in partnership with other UN agencies and partners, and the Giga partnership with UNICEF and others to connect every school in the world to the internet, and every child to information, opportunity and choice.
“Let us remember," she said, that right now, 3.6 billion people in the world do not have access to the Internet. In developing countries, with their large and growing youth demographic, a huge number of this unconnected population is youth under 25. And a disproportionate percentage comprises women and girls.
“In today's connected world, lack of access to the Internet increasingly means social and economic exclusion, fewer resources to learn and to grow, and limited opportunities for the world's most vulnerable people to fulfill their potential. Closing the digital divide requires global cooperation, leadership, and innovation. That's what Generation Equality is all about, and that's why ITU is proud to be a part of this global movement."
