Takeaways from United Nations 2023 International Women’s Day Observance

In her keynote address this morning at the United Nations International Women’s Day observance, DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality observance, Doreen Bogdan-Martin described how times are changing, highlighting personal stories of women and girls around the world:

• Vidia, a young woman in India is helping thousands of visually-impaired students, mostly girls, to develop technology skills to pursue science, technology, and math
• Helen, a Brazilian young woman, uses drones to photograph shifting vegetation patterns. Helen belongs to the Pankararu indigenous peoples and is working to fight climate change and save her people’s land.

In a field dominated by men, Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the first woman in 158 years to be elected by member nations as the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Here are my takeaways from her address:

• Digital technology is not a luxury, but a necessity

• Leverage technology and deliver on the promise of sustainable technology development goals

• We have the foundation: all countries agree on the need to achieve sustainable digital transformation

• We have a unique opportunity—the United Nations, government, industry, academic, everyone—to ensure gender equality happens in our lifetime. And not in 300 years.

• Digital technology can pave the way, if more

  • Women enroll and graduate in STEM fields
  • Countries adopt digital agendas that specifically focus on women and girls
  • Women feel safe online

• No more ifs, no more excuses for not having digital gender equality now

• We all need to commit to three actions:

  1. Get girls into STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) at an early age
  2. Ensure women and girls have equal access to digital technology and opportunities
  3. Give women a seat at the digital table. Make gender equality a must in every organization.

• We are at a crossroad in the journey of delivering gender equality

• It’s our shared responsibility to create a more equal, just, safe, and sustainable digital world today and for future generations.