Mexico City, March 8, 2023.- Digital technologies are rapidly transforming societies globally, enabling unprecedented advances to improve our environments and the lives of women and girls. However, they also give rise to new challenges that can perpetuate and deepen inequalities between men and women.
Globally, men are 25% more likely to acquire the knowledge and skills to use technology than women. In Latin America, 40% of women are not connected or cannot pay Internet access. These challenges are particularly acute if other circumstances and conditions of vulnerability are also considered, such as poverty, discrimination, racism and migratory situation, among others.
We are facing a unique opportunity to shape a present in which technology contributes to changing social norms that perpetuate gender roles and stereotypes, and broaden the voices of women and girls to strengthen their political and socioeconomic empowerment. It is necessary to equitably distribute the benefits of the digital transformation with inclusion, from all learning environments and with the support of strategies such as Media and Information Literacy.
For this reason, within the framework of International Women's Day and with the theme: "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality", the United Nations calls on all sectors to eliminate the gaps that deprive women and girls of full access to the digital age and to carry out actions so that technology promotes and facilitates their participation in science, innovation and technological developments themselves, and contributing to expanding the opportunities of women and girls in all their diversity throughout their lives.
Although access to the Internet and electronic devices is a necessary condition in people's daily lives, it is not enough to obtain the benefits of digital technologies. The digital divide also implies a lack of skills to access, consult, produce and analyze data, information and content, which has become a new form of social exclusion equivalent to what 30 years ago was not knowing how to read and write. Similarly, the disproportionate distribution of care work, which is mostly carried out by women and girls, hampers their chances of participating in tomorrow's labour market, which is increasingly digital and linked to technology.
The current reality confirms that inequalities in the field of technology have a disproportionate impact on women. In Mexico, 63% of women who do not use the Internet report that the main reason is that they do not have the knowledge to do so. In addition, in the 2021-2022 school year, only 23.67% of people enrolled in bachelor's degrees in Information and Communication Technologies area were women.
Likewise, in a world that is changing rapidly due to technological transformation, all forms of violence that are generated in the digital space against women and girls must be recognized, prevented, and eliminated.
Digital violence takes many forms, has severe consequences and can lead to other forms of violence in the real world, which disproportionately affect women and girls especially: physical, sexual and psychological violence, harassment on the street or in school, stigmatization, isolation, even femicides and suicides. In addition, digital work platforms, such as home delivery apps, often provide little access to social protection and expose women mainly to health and safety risks.
Worldwide, 40% of women have experienced digital violence, and in Mexico, three out of 10 women Internet users have been victims of cyberbullying, which represents 10 million women. For their part, women with a public voice, especially journalists, communicators and human rights defenders, are exposed to systematic online gender-based violence, including selective surveillance without judicial authorization, which prevents their full and effective participation. equality in public life and has serious repercussions in all areas of their lives and in societies in general.
This March 8th, the United Nations calls for prioritizing the inclusion and digital education of women and girls, incorporating their perspective into digitalization policies, programs, and strategies; promoting the production, analysis and use of data and statistics for gender equality in technological change; increasing public and private financing for their inclusion and digital education; establishing regulatory frameworks with a gender perspective, and guaranteeing transparency and accountability in the development and use of technology.
Digitization has the potential to benefit the lives of many people in areas such as education, health, access to decent employment, response to climate change, poverty eradication, food and nutrition security, crime prevention, response to humanitarian emergencies, participation in public life and the strengthening of democracy.
For this reason, it is absolutely necessary to advocate for a digital, scientific and technological education that eradicates gender inequalities and that promotes the participation, employment and leadership of women in technology and innovation.
