The Federal Government has expressed worry about the widening gender gap in access to digital skills, claiming that the absence of inclusion costs the globe $1 trillion annually.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, cited the United Nations Women 2022 Women’s snapshot report as evidence that women’s exclusion from the digital world has cost low- and middle-income countries $1 trillion in GDP over the past ten years, and that the loss could reach $1.5 trillion by 2025 if nothing is done. She argued that in order to buck the trend, the report suggested addressing the issue of online violence, which 38% of women said they had directly encountered.
This was expressed by the Minister during her speech during the pre-departure briefing and meeting on the 67th session of the UN commission on status of Women organised by Plan International yesterday in Abuja.
Tallen said that the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) is the main international policy-making organization entirely focused on gender equality and the progress of women, and she was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry.
Each year, she added, delegates of member nations meet at the UN headquarters in New York to assess the status of gender equality, identify problems, establish international standards, and develop specific policies to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment everywhere.The Minister said advances in digital technology present enormous opportunities to address development and humanitarian challenges and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
She added that a gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology, and digital education can increase women’s and girls’ awareness of their rights and civic engagement.She continued by saying that including women and other underrepresented groups in technology leads to more original solutions and increases the likelihood of breakthroughs that support gender equality and cater to the needs of women.
According to Funke Oladipo, director of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs’ Women Empowerment division, the purpose of the pre-departure meeting was to inform the 100 delegates from MDAs and CSOs who had expressed interest in attending the UN CSW summit in New York.
