Gender inequality has slowly become a recurring practice in our everyday lives. It all begins with the depth of smiles on the faces of parents when a child is proclaimed male or female. On those rare occasions where parents genuinely accept the child's gender, they still subconsciously find themselves trying to make such a child fit into the gender roles of the opposite gender. Unfortunately, this has spread like wildfire such that even society at large assigns gender roles. Can the family be blamed? When society provides more opportunities for one gender as opposed to the other, should parents sit still and watch as the times handicap them?
This assignment of gender roles has found a way to fuse itself with digital technology. Although girls and boys are equally interested in technology, a gender digital divide exists: girls are disadvantaged when it comes to digital adoption and often do not benefit from digital technology in the same way as boys. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the global digital and data-driven transformation, with digital technologies now being leveraged for work, leisure, and learning. Digital literacy has become almost as important as traditional literacy. However, in many parts of the world, the digital revolution has left behind a critical part of society: our women and girls.
Including women and other underrepresented groups in tech means more creative solutions and potential for innovations that promote gender equality. Conversely, their lack of inclusion is extremely costly: according to the UN Women's Gender Snapshot 2022 report, their absence from the digital world has cost low- and middle-income countries $1 trillion in the past decade—a figure set to increase to $1.5 trillion by 2025 if no action is taken. To reverse this, we must address online violence, which one study found 38% of women have experienced in 51 countries. Aside from economic benefits, enhancing women's access to digital technologies offers immense opportunities for addressing development and humanitarian challenges, as well as sparking innovative solutions that meet women's needs.
Women around the world have noted various innovations which can be put in place to ensure gender equality and women's empowerment. These innovations range from pilot programmes to partnerships with start-ups, from frontier technologies to non-tech interventions that challenge mindsets, and from procedural improvements to capacity building. The digital sphere must be considered, therefore, as not just a matter of gender equality – but a prerequisite for sustainable development.
To promote women's equality in the digital economy and increase their access to education and employment opportunities, we must make greater and more sustained investments in increasing women's digital literacy. This will enable them to participate effectively in the digital economy and gain access to digital services such as education. We must also promote women in the ICT sector by developing their skills in areas such as coding, where they are still critically underrepresented. Together with government agencies and our partners, we provide ICT training to women so that they can enter the country's IT sector. Critically, women also need to be involved in the creation of and decision-making around digital technology.
Finally, it is pertinent that while introducing women into the digital world, we should make conscious efforts to ensure that the online space is safe for them. As the world continues to become more digital, the digital potentials of women and girls have to be unleashed to ensure that we can keep up the pace. To do this, the United Nations family continues to harness digital technology and innovation to advance gender equality and sustainable development for all.
Salihu Amra Onize is a 100 level law student at the University of Abuja.
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