Women's Day 2023

Too many women are being excluded from the digital world. And this digital gender gap is widening economic and social inequalities across the world. We must ...

We need more women at the digital economy policymaking table to design effective policies to address this gap and these obstacles. Too many women are being excluded from the digital world. We must ensure we provide women the skills to use digital technologies and close this gap.

News and Press Release in English on World about Agriculture, Food and Nutrition and more; published on 8 Mar 2023 by FAO, IFAD and 2count other ...

[FAO Digital Portfolio](https://www.fao.org/digital-agriculture/digital-portfolio/en/), [E-Agriculture Community of Practice](https://aims.fao.org/news/e-agriculture-community-practice), the [1000 Digital Villages](https://www.fao.org/platforms/digital-village-initiative/en) . By assisting women with digital and financial literacy trainings and working with community champions, WFP helps them to open their own banking, mobile money or other digital accounts, bringing economic benefits including food security to these women and, in turn, to their families and entire societies. Discussions also highlighted the achievements of rural women related to digital literacy, digital skills and agripreneurship. The [FAO Office of Innovation](https://www.fao.org/office-of-innovation/en) established the [Global Network on Digital Agriculture and Innovation Hubs](https://www.fao.org/flexible-multipartner-mechanism/projects/project-detail/en/c/1473596/), to support its members to foster innovation within their digital agriculture ecosystem, with a special focus on women and young agripreneurs, among other programmes. “Putting resources in the hands of women is a no-brainer and with this comes the transfer of knowledge and skills including digital literacy to help these women realize their full potential. “Food security for households and communities is in the hands of the women. Women in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) are 16 percent less likely to use mobile internet than men, and progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. For example, through its cash-based transfer programmes across the globe, WFP seeks to directly address the barriers to digital and financial services borne out of socio-cultural norms and gender-based stereotypes. IFAD is an international financial institution and a United Nations specialized agency. “Admittedly, it is discouraging to celebrate International Women’s Day in a time when we are going backwards on gender equality and are seeing widening gender gaps in science, technology and innovation,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol. “Gender inequality and the urban-rural divide will only worsen unless we create a more inclusive and prosperous society for everyone.” [“DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality: Leveraging the transformative power of inclusive digitalization and innovation for rural women and girls](https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day)

This Women's Day, Spiceworks got in touch with leaders across the globe to discuss the impact of the digital gender gap on economic and social inequalities.

As we continue to strive for equality, it helps to remember that when various points of view come together, the result is greater output and innovation. “Every year on March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day to honor the numerous sacrifices, struggles, and successes of women throughout history. Organizations can support this aim by increasing awareness of the possibilities for women in tech and by encouraging its leaders to mentor other women in the workplace. Encouraging women that they deserve to take advantage of these digital opportunities from a young age can help to minimize the gap by empowering them to take up space online.” “As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2023, it is important to recognize the many ambitious and visionary women that have pioneered a path for me to follow. Each business is different, and some of these may not be applicable to all, but the bottom line is that organizations need to adapt their policies to their people. As someone who was never encouraged to explore a career in computer security, I know firsthand the importance of opening up diverse paths for young girls and women. They need to continue to offer workforce education and mentoring programs and provide more opportunities for women to excel in all aspects of the industry. Despite the challenges that may come with entering the tech industry, I am energized by the prospect of learning and contributing to a dynamic field. “The digital gender gap has far-reaching implications, not just for women today but for their families, future generations and society as a whole. The lack of gender diversity in tech is an issue we all need to think about and be active in combating, not only on International Women’s Day but every day.” While people are much more aware of the gender gap than they have been in the past, a divide still remains that needs to be overcome.

The UN Womens Gender Snapshot 2022 report revealed that the exclusion of women from the digital world has caused the staggering loss of $1 trillion from the ...

And with LinkedIn data showing women are 24% more likely than men to apply to remote roles, we need to make flexible working the norm for everyone if we want a diverse pool of talent. Finally, I believe it’s significant that the theme of the 2023 International Women’s Day is to “embrace equity”; a shift from the language of previous years which focused on equality. [Kami Viswanathan](/topic/kami-viswanathan)is Senior Vice President of [FedEx Express Middle East](/topic/fedex-express-middle-east), Indian Subcontinent and Africa ( MEISA) Operations . To overcome bias in AI, we need to make sure the workforce creating the AI is diverse. [Gender Gap](/topic/gender-gap)report estimates that it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap. I encourage you to actively support growth and progression of all our team members in our path to gender equity. For starters, the UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report revealed that the exclusion of women from the digital world has caused the staggering loss of $1 trillion from the GDP of low-and middle-income countries in the last decade. When it comes to the actions that need to be taken, to improve gender [WEF](/topic/wef)gender gap report suggests that there are three key areas where organizations must do more: inclusive hiring, internal mobility, and flexibility. I was also an investor in technology start-ups, enabling me to witness first-hand impact of technology on opening up access to education and employability. The 2023 theme: “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” sets out the following priorities: The report warns that without proactive intervention, the shortfall will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025.