Session
Theater
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: The session is designed to be a thought leadership and knowledge exchange session, the format will allow for members of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality to share their collective work and vision (attachment) and in a second part to reply to Q&A and interact with participants.
In 2024, UN Women and the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality published their groundbreaking position paper, "Placing Gender Equality at the Heart of the Global Digital Compact: Taking forward the recommendations of the sixty seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women". The paper underscores the urgent need to address systemic inequalities and create an inclusive digital landscape as part of the United Nations’ organization of the Summit the Future.
As the global community prepares for the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+30) in 2025, it is critical to highlight the vital intersection between the WSIS outcomes, the Global Digital Compact (GDC), and the Beijing+30 agenda. By bridging these frameworks, we can ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the heart of digital transformation and global governance.
The Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality calls for the WSIS review, the implementation of the GDC, and the Beijing+30 agenda to align around a shared commitment to gender equality in digital transformation. The WSIS+20 review presents an opportunity to recognize that achieving digital inclusion for all women and girls is not only an issue of justice but also a prerequisite for sustainable development. A future-oriented WSIS must recognize that women and girls are not only beneficiaries but also leaders in shaping the digital future.
Description of the Session
This session will be the opportunity to drive and spark a conversation on how multi-stakeholder platforms can help shape a more equitable digital transformation and provide concrete recommendations for advocacy and action.
The session is designed to be a thought leadership and knowledge exchange session, the format will allow for participants to share their collective work and vision around guiding questions to help shape a joint action agenda.
UN Women and Members of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality
- Opening: Lessons learned from the Global Digital Compact (10 min)
Papa Seck – Chief Research and Data, UN Women
- Panel Discussion: Integrating the lessons from the GDC into a cohesive global agenda for advancing gender equality in the digital age (30 min)
- Bridging gender gaps in AI governance
Office of the UN Tech Envoy
What should be the building blocks of a gender-responsive artificial intelligence (AI), recognizing the transformative potential and risks of AI?
- Preventing disinformation, discrimination and TFGBV
Finland’s Global Gateway Ambassador Roy Eriksson
What are the key measures required to ensure women and girls can benefit from a safe and empowering digital environment?
- Digital skills, and leadership
Radka Sibille, Digital Affairs Advisor at the EUD to the UN in Geneva
How can we address gender-based disparities in digital access, skills, and leadership and promote women’s representation in tech industries, STEM education, and decision-making roles?
- Strengthening capacity and addressing knowledge and resources gaps
Ms. Hajjar El Haddaoui, Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General, DCO
How can we generate knowledge, capacity and resources towards ambitious actions to bridge the gender digital divide?
- Enabling environment: adopting gender-responsive digital strategies
Gitanjali Sah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator - ITU
What are the prerequisites for countries to adopt gender-responsive digital policies and promote more equitable digital ecosystems?
- Q&A and interactive discussion with panelists on how to develop a joint action agenda (20 min)
The conversation aims to critically assess the GDC commitments, identify gaps, and chart the path forward to ensure that gender equality and women’s digital rights are mainstreamed in its implementation and prioritized in the Beijing+30 and WSIS+20 reviews.
UN Women: Helene Molinier, Advisor Digital Cooperation
UN Women: Tunay Firat
UN Women: Helene Molinier
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Targets: The integration of a gender perspective in technology and innovation is crucial to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda as it can help accelerate progress on many SDGs. This requires increasing the number of initiatives that directly target women and girls but also systemically including gender and intersectional perspectives in all global or sectoral digital programmes. Without attention to these issues, gender-based inequalities in power that block the realization of women’s rights are rendered invisible and the structural causes of gender-based discrimination and harm are left unchanged – and even amplified and perpetuated by digital tools. Our proposal aims to present how the work done in preparation of the GDC can be used in WSIS+20 and Beijing +30 reviews to galvanize momentum to achieve the SDGs by offering a digital governance framework that guides global, regional and national approaches based on shared principles, priorities and objectives that advance women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment.