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.
The preparation for the Summit of the Future where 183 governments and various stakeholders are debating on issues pertaining digital transformation is a “once in a generation opportunity” to build political momentum and place gender perspectives on digital technology at the core of a new digital governance framework. The GDC process has drawn attention to how digital governance decisions can advance equality, particularly women’s and girls’ rights in the digital age. It has also shown that much more efforts are needed to build bridges between digital experts and experts working on human rights and gender equality and agree on common objectives and ambitious actions.
As the convener of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, UN Women published a position paper in March 2024 that builds on CSW67 recommendations to help prioritize gender perspectives in digital normative frameworks, and better mainstream gender equality across all objectives.
Many of the efforts led by Action Coalition leaders in preparation of the GDC are also informing the preparations of the Beijing+30 and WSIS+20 reviews, that will both take place in 2025. This is a unique opportunity to bring together these two processes and use the lessons learned from the GDC to strengthen gender perspectives in WSIS and ensure the Beijing review analyses how rapid technological change is impacting progress to achieve gender equality.
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. It will bring together Member States, CSOs, Tech sector, youth networks and UN agencies to discuss ways to mobilize the capacities and resources of all people and showcase that efforts to strengthen gender equality in digital cooperation are transformative and beneficial to everyone, because they promote inclusiveness more broadly.
We aim to organize an interactive session that will be accessible for both in person and online attendants. All presented material will be available online and we will also allow online participants to ask questions and interact with speakers if time and technology allows.
UN Women
ITU
Government of Finland
A+ Alliance
Digital Grassroots
Finland: Aki Enkenberg who is Senior Advisor on Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
ITU: Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau
A+ Alliance: Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, CEO / Founder, Women at the Table; Co-Founder, Alliance
Digital Grassroots: Uffa Modey, Co Founder & Global Lead
UN Women: Helene Molinier, Advisor Digital Cooperation
UN Women: Helene Molinier, Advisor Digital Cooperation
UN Women: Tunay Firat
UN Women: Tunay Firat
1.4
4.4
5.1
5.2
5.b
9.c
10.3
16.6
16.7
17.6
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.