BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participated in a panel discussion on “Championing Women's Leadership in Tech'', a side event to the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The event was co-organized by the EQUALS Global Partnership for digital gender equality, the GSMA, the International Trade Centre, ITU, Oslo Metropolitan University and UN Women. It examined the root causes of the persistent gender gap among leaders in the tech sector and presented new research findings from the recently published joint EQUALS report titled: 'Perceptions of Power: Championing Female Leadership in Tech'.
Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women and Ms Dorothy N. Tembo, Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, gave opening remarks. Other distinguished panelists included Mr Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA; Ms Silvina Moschini, Founder, SheWorks, and 2019 EQUALS in Tech Award Winner; Dr Curt Rice, Rector, Oslo Metropolitan University; H.E. Alicia Buenrostro, Ambassador, Alternate Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations. The panel was moderated by Ms Julie Linn Teigland, EMEIA Area Managing Partner and EY Global Leader-Women, EY, and closing remarks were delivered by Ms Hide Hardeman, Head of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
Ms Bogdan-Martin described that one way to help bridge the digital gender divide is by encouraging girls to pursue careers in STEM. She noted that important work is unfolding towards this goal in the Middle East and Europe. To break further ground, she suggested integrating digital and STEM skills earlier in children's education.
ITU is working to promote digital skills for girls and women through various projects like the Girls in ICT initiative, the EQUALS Global Partnership, 'Girls Can Code' workshops, and ITU Innovation Challenges. Highlighting the number of initiatives and actors involved in promoting STEM education for girls, Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized that momentum exists, but we need to build on it and scale it sustainably.
She stated ''There is no single or quick fix to the gender gap…we all need to work together and bring our respective strengths and perspectives to the table.'' While discussing the role of public-private partnerships in advancing women's leadership in technology, she mentioned that only around 13% of ICT Ministers and 13% regulators are women; in the private sector too, women are still outnumbered by men by 3:1.
Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized the importance of government policies that promote inclusion, and possibilities for the private sector to foster leadership opportunities for women in their internal structures, and also to tackle unconscious biases in work culture.
''Changing this picture isn't so hard. A small shift in mindset could deliver exponential impact in redressing the digital gender imbalance and accelerating efforts to meet the SDGs,'' she concluded.
