CCG-UN Women present | DigitALL – Symposium on Gender Responsive Technology and Innovation in the 21st Century

March 13 , 2023

DigitALL – A Symposium on Gender Responsive Technology and Innovation in the 21st Century

【English】

[Chinese]

Technologies and innovation are transforming society at a rapid pace, enabling unprecedented advances that are improving the social, economic, and political status of women and girls, while at the same time creating profound new challenges that can perpetuate and deepen existing patterns of gender inequality. Exposing women and girls to technology results in more creative solutions and creates greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality. By designing and adopting a gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology and digital education, immense opportunities can be harnessed to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and reach the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This event, which was held on March 8th to mark International Women’s Day, brought together a diverse group of government agencies, embassies, UN entities, financial institutions, academics, and leading think tanks to share best practices on policies and programs to bridge the digital gender divide and identify actions that enable gender-transformative technology and innovation.

The event was attended by representatives from United Nations organizations including UN Women, UNDP, UNESCO and UNICEF, embassy officials from the European Union and a number of embassies including those of Korea, the Republic of Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Cyprus, Slovenia, the Bahamas and the Seychelles Chinese government officials were also on hand from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as were experts and scholars from think tanks, universities and representatives from the business community.

The welcoming remarks were delivered by Dr. Mabel Miao, Co-founder and Secretary-General of CCG, and Ms. Smriti Aryal, Country Representative of UN Women China. Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China made a keynote speech. A special message from the Chinese government was delivered by Mr. Chen Dali, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education, and Ms. Zhang Xiaoyan, Vice President of China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID).

In her opening address, Dr. Mabel Miao welcomed guests to CCG and noted how the rapid pace of technological innovation in 21st century has brought unprecedented advancement in improving the social, economic, and political status of women and girls, while also creating new challenges that can exacerbate existing patterns of gender inequality. She expressed the sincere hope that CCG can play a positive role and contribute to efforts to promote “gender equality” in the 21st century, collaborating with the UN, the business community, and government institutions to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ms. Smriti Aryal emphasized that we live in a digital era with technological advancements that have created unprecedented opportunities for growth and development, and at the same time, pose challenges that can perpetuate and deepen existing patterns of inequalities. She also that China’s rapid advancements in digital and green transformation gives the world a tremendous opportunity to ensure that women and girls benefit from and shape these transformations equally.

Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee emphasized the urgent need for people to work together to identify solutions that distribute the benefits of digitalization equally to achieve the sustainable development goals. He advised that governments, businesses, civil society, women’s organizations and academic institutions to come together to integrate gender perspectives into digital plans and policies, by investing in more robust research on the barriers women face, the efficacy of efforts that have attempted to overcome these barriers, and evidence-based programmes that give women the access and skills they need to engage in, lead, and help shape the digital space.

Mr. CHEN Dali highlighted the fact that women have been pioneers of human civilization and drivers of social progress. Since the adoption of the China’s policy of reform and opening up, education for girls and women has continued to improve and China has made new progress in ensuring women have access to education, employment and overseas studies. He also noted that China will also actively fulfil its international responsibilities to promote gender equality worldwide, safeguard women’s right to education and promote the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Ms. ZHANG Xiaoyan noted that there have always been “three uncertainties” regarding gender equality issues in the digital era. The first one is gender imbalance. In digital education, gender inequality has the possibility of worsening and she believes that one of the key issues for female development in the digital economy in Europe is to close the gender digital divide in education. The second is whether prejudice against women will continue in the digital era. It is believed that digital transformation will create more job opportunities for women, but for that to happen, people need to abandon the stereotypes associated with women. However, there is also the possibility that women will be more likely put at risk in the course of digital transformation. The third uncertainty is that of limited opportunities for women in leadership positions. The world needs to advocate for and encourage women in the workplace to make more contributions in their careers.

The symposium consisted of two sessions. Session one focused on ” Gender-responsive technology design, development, and deployment & gender-inclusive innovation and digital ecosystems”.

This session was moderated by Dr. Mabel Miao, Co-founder and Secretary-General of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG).

Participants in this session included:

Prof. Fang Xin, academician of The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS);

H.E. Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, Ambassador of UAE to China;

H.E. Oliver Wonekha, Ambassador of Uganda to China;

Ms. Beate Trankmann, Resident Representative of UNDP China;

Mr. Shahbaz Khan, director and representative of UNESCO office in Beijing;

Ms. Xu Fang, Managing Partner of Galaxy Ventures.

Session two focused on “Protection and economic empowerment of women and girls in the context of digitalization and innovation”.

This session was moderated by Ms. Yang Ruikan, Partnerships Specialist at UN Women China.

Participants in this session included:

H.E. Martha Mavrommati, Ambassador of Cyprus to China;

Mr. Liu Zhen, Vice President of Kuaishou;

Ms. Dora Giusti, Child Protection Chief at the UNICEF China;

Ms. Kathy Gong, CEO and Co-Founder of WafaGames;

Ms. Zhao Xin, Co-founder and Secretary-General of Artic Green Energy Group.

The symposium also featured a special dialogue session on “Making Sure Women Have a Seat at that Table: Strengthening the voice of women on technology and innovation decisions that will define the 21st century – Insights from women leaders in international trade “.

This session was moderated by Ms. Helene Juramy, Trade Officer at the European Union Delegation. Ms. Arancha González, Dean and Professor of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po., former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, former Cabinet Director for the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, sent a special message.