Did you know that:

• The absolute gap between men and women’s digital access has actually increased by 20 million since 2019. The gender gap in mobile phone ownership has not changed since before the pandemic.¹
• Only 28% of engineering graduates and 22% of artificial intelligence workers globally are women.¹
• A survey of women journalists from 125 countries found that 73 per cent had suffered online violence in the course of their work.²

The digital age is creating new and unprecedented opportunities to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Unfortunately, the opportunities of the digital revolution are not available equally to everyone. Growing inequalities are becoming increasingly evident in the context of digital skills and access to technologies, with women being left behind as the result of this digital gender divide.

What are we doing to help close the gender gap in technology and innovation? 

UN Women has prioritized innovation and technology as one of the drivers of change to achieve gender equality. 

Here are a few examples of the approach and impact of our work in these areas: 

• The African “Girls Can CODE” Initiative³ was designed by UN Women, the African Union Commission and ITU to equip young girls with digital literacy, coding and personal development skills. Girls from 34 African countries were trained as programmers, creators and designers, placing them on-track to take up education and careers in ICT and coding.
• WeRise⁴ is a game developed by UN Women for young women and young men to promote gender equality in the Middle-East and Northern African region. UN Women challenges players on gender stereotypes and their attitudes towards discriminatory gender roles. The game app aimed to drive positive behaviours and promote critical thinking among youth.  
• To help women stay safe, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Women in Serbia is supporting the programme “Implementing norms, changing minds”⁵ along with the civil society organization SOS Vojvodina, to design a safer mobile application for reporting violence and seeking help. 

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8 around the theme of “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, we ask you to help support vital programs that provide women and girls access to technology, training programs and safe spaces.

Help us empower women and girls to obtain an education, become leaders in their community and build a brighter, more equal future for us all. Donate Now!