The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW) and the Ministry of Women Affairs have appealed for an inclusive technology and digital education among women and girls for the development of the country.
They made the appea at the 67th session of UNCSW Pre-departure Meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
The event has its theme: “Innovation and Technology Change and Education in the Digital Age for Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of all Women and Girls.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Shehu Aliyu, said that inclusive and transformation technology and digital education was crucial for a sustainable future.
Tallen said that inclusiveness would help to identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and empowerment worldwide.
She said that gender responsiveness approach to innovation, technology and digital education would help increase the awareness of women and girls regarding their right and civic engagement.
She also said that it would offer opportunities to address development and humanitarian challenges and to achieve the 2030 agenda’s of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Globally they are a minority of students in STEM education, at only 35 per cent with just three per cent studying information and communication technology .
“In spite of their many achievement, women and girls remain underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
“This directly reflects the discrimination faced by women and girls around the world .
“It has been widely acknowledged that there is no tool more effective for development than women empowerment and gender equality approach,” she said.
According to her, the UN 2022 Women’s Snap Short Report shows women’s exclusion from the digital world has shelved 1 trillion dollars from the domestic product of low and middle income countries in the last decade.
Tallen said that if action was not taken, this would create a loss that would grow to 1.5 trillion dollars by 2025.
She added that reversing the trend according to the report would require tackling the problem of online violence, which 38 per cent of women had personally experienced.
Meanwhile, the Director of Women Affairs Department in the ministry, Mrs Funke Oladipo, said that Africa contributed about 47 per cent, the highest number of female graduates in STEM education.
She said that the 67th session was used to address the issue of women and girls access to finance and funding by government, private sector, development partners, philanthropist, social enterprises and NGO.
“All women nurture can’t be sustained. Our aim is to promote digital trust through safety and security.
“We aimed at protecting the human right for women and girls through technology and also to promote women participation in government,” she said. (NAN)