UN Women stands in solidarity with young women and girls around the world who are raising awareness of leadership in the digital sphere. It is more important than ever for girls to take on leadership roles in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Young women and girls must have equal opportunity to master digital skills and technology principles, as well as accessible and high-quality ICT education from an early age, if they are to attain full, equal, and meaningful engagement in ICT.
UN Women, in her capacity as the organizer of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, urges all relevant parties to offer spaces where females can create, develop, and use tech-driven solutions.
It is imperative that young women and girls perceive themselves as agents of change in their respective fields, and that they are provided with well-defined pathways to leadership roles. It’s important to highlight accomplished women executives in the ICT industry to encourage girls and help them see possible career paths. Additionally, they require learning settings that aggressively oppose gender prejudice, support diversity, and provide young girls and women with role models.
Every girl has the right to have safe access to and use of digital tools. She is entitled to contribute to the creation of a future that is tech-driven, inclusive, and equitable. In order to improve digital cooperation, the UN Secretary-General has proposed for a global digital compact in which everyone is required to prioritize gender equality.
This entails making certain that women and girls have equal access to fellowships, leadership development programs, and career advancement. It entails confronting bias and gender stereotypes as well as societal conventions and preconceptions that deter girls from pursuing employment in information and communications technology.
The world came to realize at CSW67 in 2023 how important it is to provide safer online spaces where girls are shielded from objectification, sexist remarks, and discriminatory attitudes, all of which can damage their credibility and sense of belonging in the computer community.
Now that encouraging projects are underway, they need to be increased in size and repeated. A program called African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) teaches young women between the ages of 17 and 25 programming, digital literacy, and job preparedness. The initiative aims to enable young women to pursue jobs in the ICT industry as programmers, coders, and designers. This project is being led by UN Women and the African Union Commission in collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF, ECA, and ITU.To ensure that girls in ICT, in all of their diversity, have meaningful leadership roles and that topics that are important to them are strategically represented, we must unite on International Girls in ICT Day. That is a crucial objective for all of us, and it necessitates that we pay attention to them and make sure their input influences the choices we make in order to realize a shared digital future.