The precedence theme for this 12 months’s CSW, an annual, two-week lengthy occasion which has been advancing rights for women since 1946, was the continuing discrimination, abuse, and misogyny girls face within the digital world.
The intention was to advance progress in direction of levelling the digital taking part in subject, and to handle persistent points that have an effect on girls and ladies, together with restricted entry to expertise, disproportionate on-line violence, and underrepresentation and gender bias in tech industries.
The result doc of the Fee, formally the “Agreed Conclusions” of the 45 Member States, acknowledged the essential function of expertise and innovation in attaining gender equality.
In a press release launched by UN Women on Saturday, the doc was described as a “blueprint for all stakeholders, together with governments, the personal sector, civil society and youth to advertise the complete and equal participation and management of ladies and ladies within the design, transformation and integration of digital applied sciences and innovation processes that fulfil the human rights and desires of ladies and ladies.”
© UNICEF/Mary Gelman
A ‘imaginative and prescient of a extra equal and related world’
Talking on the conclusion of the negotiations, UN Girls Government Director, Sima Bahous, stated: “This 12 months’s Agreed Conclusions are game-changing and convey ahead our imaginative and prescient of a extra equal and related world for ladies and ladies in all their range. It’s our job, as we depart right here immediately, to translate them into actuality. The final word success of those Agreed Conclusions lies past their finalization immediately, in how we are going to collectively take them ahead. Allow us to translate them into actuality for all girls and ladies.”
In addition to reaffirming the significance of ladies and ladies’ full participation and management in science, expertise and innovation, concern was expressed in regards to the restricted progress in closing the gender hole in entry to applied sciences, connectivity, digital literacy, and schooling. The Agreed Conclusions additionally condemned the interrelation between offline and on-line violence, harassment, and discrimination towards girls and ladies.
The Fee referred to as for considerably elevated private and non-private sector investments to bridge the gender digital divide, extra inclusive innovation eco-systems, and the promotion of protected and gender-responsive expertise and innovation. It additionally underlined the necessity for inclusive and equitable high quality schooling in science, expertise, engineering, and arithmetic, data and communications expertise, and digital literacy to make sure that all girls and ladies can thrive in a quickly altering world.
Youth on the centre of discussions
For the primary time, CSW included an interactive youth session with younger individuals, youth representatives of delegations, civil society, and United Nations organizations, partaking in dialogue and offering suggestions on how to make sure younger girls and ladies are a part of the digital transformation.
Necessary contributions have been made by a variety of civil society organizations, together with members of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, launched as a part of the Generation Equality Forum, a civil society-focused group convened by UN Girls.
The Motion Coalition has made a big contribution in direction of cementing alliances between Governments, personal sector, civil society, and the UN system, and in driving momentum and commitments to advance gender equality via expertise and innovation.
