Her name is Nino. She runs a non-profit that promotes innovative thinking and tech-enabled transformation in Georgia.
Jiang is an engineer in China who has designed a refrigeration system that eliminates the use of harmful ozone-depleting chemicals.
And in Uzbekistan, Nozimahon’s healthcare start-up allows patients to schedule a virtual visit with a nurse, any time of the day or night.
Women like Nino, Jiang and Nozmahon are using digital technology as a driving force to reshape societies and economies. But while the digital era is enabling unprecedented advances, it is also creating profound new challenges that could perpetuate existing patterns of gender inequalities and deepen the digital divide.
For years, digital transformation sounded distant, costly or out of reach in many corners of the planet. But the pandemic broke all the molds, forcing us to embrace a transition to digital technology at breakneck pace. Internet users grew by more than 10 percent in 2020, the largest annual increase in a decade.
Basanti is one of those new users. When the pandemic hit, this elderly woman in India signed up for digital literacy training, along with more than 20,000 elderly people in the country, including people with disabilities. Now Basanti can pay bills and apply for government benefits through her smartphone.
Şerife leads a women’s business cooperative in Gazipaşa, Türkiye. During the pandemic, she and her co-op partners, along with 4,000 other small and medium-sized businesses in the country, took the chance to learn how to take their work online and manage their finances digitally. Through the e-platform they built, they were able not only to keep the cooperative afloat in the face of the lockdowns but also to support activities that promote women's prosperity.
Despite the advances made during the pandemic, the benefits of a digitally connected world are not spread equally.
The lack of accessibility, affordability and digital skills, as well as fears around privacy and security, bring the risk that rapid digital transformation could actually aggravate gender inequality rather than reducing it.
Still today 2.7 billion people have no access to the internet, and women and girls make up the majority. A recent study finds that men are 21 percent more likely to be online than women, and that figure rises to 52 percent in the least developed countries. This is happening at a time when 90 percent of jobs already have a digital component.
In developing economies, among people with bank accounts, men are more likely than women to have made or received digital payments. This gender gap in the use of digital finance remains practically unchanged since 2014. This means that women have a harder time earning and saving income, growing their businesses, and lifting their families out of poverty.
Inequality in access to the digital sphere has high economic and social costs for all of us. Developing countries missed out on US$1 trillion in gross domestic product in the last decade as a result. And UN Member States have resolved that the human rights we enjoy in the physical world remain with us when we go online. So making digital spaces accessible to and safe for women is a moral imperative as well an economic one.
Kunzang is a mother of three children in Bhutan. Her water broke prematurely in the third pregnancy, and when she arrived at the hospital, doctors said that her baby was in distress. Thanks to a digital device that monitors fetal heart rate and uterine contractions, the complications were detected early, and Kunzang was able to receive prompt care.
In the Dominican Republic, Magda is one of over 8,500 women politicians who gained visibility through a digital platform that promoted women candidates in the 2020 electoral campaign. This virtual space helped increase the participation of women in politics and in turn improved gender balance in government. Magda is now a representative in the country's parliament.
Digital technology plays an instrumental role in strengthening women’s resilience and that of their communities in times of crisis, keeping essential social services running.
Digital technology has the power to transform economies. Greater gender equality in this space boosts economic growth and leads to better development results and long-term economic prosperity.
Digital technology also has the power to improve governance, providing new ways for women and girls to participate in and contribute to society.
But if unlocked without regard to the needs and rights of women and girls, digital technology can be a double-edged sword that fuels violence and harassment, especially online. In fact, 85 percent of women online have witnessed harassment, hate speech, trolling and other forms of digital violence against other women, and 38 percent have experienced it personally. In response to this threat, Valeria and Tetiana decided to start a gamified online quest to raise awareness about digital gender-based violence in Ukraine. And Fatima, from Kyrgyzstan, launched a chatbot that enables women to identify signs of psychological and financial abuse online.
Discriminatory social norms in the digital space are frequently coupled with those of the analogue world, creating an atmosphere that prevents women from having equal access to associated careers. Women make up only 28 percent of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and 22 percent in the artificial intelligence field.
But Nino, Jiang and Nozimahon, like other women mentioned in this story and many more, demonstrate that digital technology needs women as much as women need digital technology. They are a clear sign that careers have no gender and that when women have access to digital technology, they can be a force for radical positive change.
Going beyond stereotypes in the digital era will allow people like Aidana to continue building Kyrgyzstan's first satellite; or Lorna to thrive as a front end and back end web developer; or Yine to educate South Sudan’s next generation of women scientists; or Raghda, to branch out the mobile app that she created that provides personalized wellness programmes in Egypt.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2023 is "DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality." While celebrating women’s achievements in this arena, the theme also highlights the need for gender-responsive approaches to technology, innovation and digital education.
UNDP works through its Gender Equality Strategy and is guided by its Digital Strategy to bridge both the gender gap and digital divide by putting gender equality at the core of digitalization and ensuring that digital transformation does not leave anyone behind. So far, UNDP has supported more than 100 countries to adopt essential digital strategies, including solutions to address gender inequalities and promote the empowerment of women and girls.
Digital transformation holds immense possibilities to address our greatest challenges and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. But its potential can’t be realized without the full inclusion of half the population.
This platform is dedicated to accelerating gender equality and the representation of women and girls in STEM in Europe and Central Asia.
Created by UNDP and UNICEF
This initiative helps respond to all forms of violence against women and girls in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific.
Created by the UN and supported by the European Union and other partners
This platform monitors national pandemic response measures that directly address women and girls’ economic and social security as well as violence against them.
Created by UNDP and UN Women
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