Session
Gender Digital Divide
Tutorial - 30 Min
Despite progress in recent years, women continue to face significant barriers in accessing education and employment opportunities in technology fields. This town hall will bring together a panel of partners of the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age. The panel will discuss the critical importance of empowering women in education and employment in the technology sector, including emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) built on the EQUALS annual report. The panelists will also share their experiences in organizing programs that have helped improve women’s digital skills and leadership in these fields.
The town hall will focus on the challenges that women face in accessing education and employment opportunities in technology fields and explore strategies for overcoming these challenges. Panelists representing diverse perspectives will discuss best practices for designing and implementing effective programs to support women in these fields.
Through this town hall, we aim to inspire and inform participants about the importance of gender diversity in technology fields and provide practical insights into how we can better support and empower women in these industries. By highlighting programs and initiatives that have helped bridge the gender gap in education and employment in the technology sector, this town hall will contribute to ongoing efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive future for women in the fields of technology.
- Moon Choi, KAIST
- Michael Best, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Araba Sey, Research ICT Africa and University of Washington
- Carla Licciardello, ITU
- Tamara Dancheva, GSMA
- Dasom Lee, KAIST
- Taylor De Rosa, KAIST
- Ern Chern Khor, KAIST
- So Young Kim, KAIST
- Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania
- Maria Garrido, University of Washington
- Allison Gillwald, Research ICT Africa
- Lilian Volcan, University of Oxford
- Tavishi Ahluwalia, National Law University Delhi
- Sisa Ngabaza, University of the Western Cape
- Gloria Bonder, Latin American Postgraduate Institute of Social Sciences (FLACSO)
- Ayanna Samuels, Oslo Met
- Michelle F. Settecase, EY
- Naima Hassan, Government of Somalia
- Ayesha Zainudeen, LIRNEAsia
- Helani Galpaya, LIRNEAsia
- Javiera Macaya, CETIC
- Molly Lesher, OECD
- Leon Gwaka, University of Pennsylvania
- Sindhura KS, University of Pennsylvania
- Leslie Dwolatzky, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Moon Choi, KAIST (in person)
- Carla Licciardello, ITU (in person)
- Tamara Dancheva, GSMA (virtual)
- Michael Best, Georgia Tech (virtual)
Dasom Lee, KAIST
Ern Chern Khor, KAIST
Taylor De Rosa, KAIST
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
17. Partnerships for the Goals
Targets: This session will provide participants with an understanding of the current state of sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive ICT data measurement in the Global South based on insights generated from the EQUALS inaugural Taking Stock report and the EQUALS Sex-Disaggregated ICT Data in Africa report. Through presentations and discussions from experts representing diverse regions and experiences, participants will gain insight into the challenges associated with collecting and monitoring sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive ICT data. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with an understanding of how policymakers, industry, national statistical offices (NSO), civil society, and researchers can each help overcome the gaps in measuring the gender digital divide. This workshop also provides an opportunity for participants to learn more about the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, and how to get involved in efforts to generate knowledge about the existence, causes, and remedies for global gender tech inequalities. This session is closely related to SDG 5
Report
Joint initiatives, such as the EQUALS Global Partnership, EQUALS-EU, and the ITU Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender in Digital Policies, can identify best practices across sectors, countries, and contexts.
Quality data and research are fundamental to our consideration of the gender digital divide and assessing progress over time.
Recruit authors to contribute to the 2024 EQUALS Research Coalition Report.
Promote and expand partnerships within the EQUALS Global Partnership.
Post-Session Report: Empowering Women in Tech: Insights from EQUALS
Town Hall
October 10, 2023
Internet Governance Forum, Kyoto, Japan
This Town Hall brought together a panel of partners from the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age to highlight the vital role of empowering women in technology education and employment. They highlighted EQUALS initiatives addressing this issue and shared their experiences in enhancing women's digital access, skills, and leadership. The event also touched on future EQUALS plans and ways for participants to engage.
Moderator
Prof. Dasom Lee, KAIST
Speakers
Prof. Michael Best, Georgia Institute of Technology
Ms. Tamara Dancheva, GSMA
Ms. Gitanjali Sah, ITU
Prof. Moon Choi, KAIST
Key takeaways
- Joint initiatives, such as the EQUALS Global Partnership, EQUALS-EU, and the ITU Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender in Digital Policies, can identify best practices across sectors, countries, and contexts.
- Quality data and research are fundamental to our consideration of a gender digital divide and assessing progress over time.
Presentation 1: Overview of the EQUALS Research Coalition
Prof. Michael Best, Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Executive Director, Institute for People and Technology
Key points
- The EQUALS Research Coalition was formed in 2017 by Prof. Michael Best and Dr. Araba Sey. One of the first goals of the Research Coalition was to publish a “tent post” report as a way to synthesize the status of gender digital divide and drive the conversation going forward.
- Through the efforts of the Research Coalition, ITU, Dr. Nancy Hafkin, and many others, the inaugural research report, Taking Stock, was published in 2019. See: Taking Stock
Presentation 2: EQUALS-EU Key Project Outcomes
Ms. Tamara Dancheva, Senior International Relations Manager, GSMA
Key points
- EQUALS-EU was developed to build capacity and expand networks for women and girls in social innovation and entrepreneurship.
- The key policy recommendations are centered around gender-inclusive innovation standards, such as involving key groups in problem definition, ideation, and solution design; gender-inclusive language use; gender-diverse metrics employed before and during innovation performance; and documenting and archiving the innovation performance. See: EQUALS-EU Policy Brief
Presentation 3: Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender in Digital Policies
Ms. Gitanjali Sah
Strategy and Policy Coordinator, ITU
Key points
- This handbook was developed by ITU to address the gap in materials targeting policymakers on gender-responsive digital policies. It is based on research from 19 different Member States.
- Key recommendations: including specific objectives to gender/women/girls in key national strategic documents such as digital agendas or national financial inclusion strategies; putting in place programs or projects that specifically address women and girls; and setting gender criteria for the assessment of project proposals.
- See: Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender in Digital Policies
Presentation 4: Looking forward: Data collection and the next iteration of the EQUALS research report
Prof. Moon Choi, Head and Associate Professor, KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy
Key points
- The next iteration of the EQUALS Research Coalition Annual Report on the gender digital divide will be published in the fall/winter of 2024, with three focuses: Skills, Leadership, and Access.
- Contributors can choose whether they will write a chapter (4,000 – 6,000 words) or a case study (1,000 – 1,500 words).
- The initial deadline for the statement of interest will be December 1, 2023.