Wk 8: International Women's Day: How Can Digitalization Enable Gender Equality?

 Today March 8th is International Women’s Day!

According to IWD  

“IWD sees a number of MISSIONS to help forge a gender equal world. Celebrating women's achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, is key.” 

Today Forbes published an article that reflects on digitalization and women equality! Here are some highlights from it: 

The UN Women, UN organization delivering programmes, policies and standards that uphold women’s human rights and ensure that every woman and girl lives up to her full potential, announces 2023’s mission for International Women’s Day: 

“DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” 

“Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.   

Forbes highlights the importance of women in STEM professions being essential to promote economic growth, maintaining and increasing innovative strength, and implementing sustainability goals for countries and companies. The UN predicts 75% of jobs will be in STEM, however UNICEF reports that mainly boys are interested in those fields. In fact, 22% of the jobs in AI are held by women.  

“With the increasing use of automation and digital technologies such as robotics, IoT, or machine learning in supply chain management, STEM skills are becoming more important as they become more technology driven. However, women are often still underrepresented in STEM professions and supply chain. Therefore, it is important to encourage more girls and women to pursue careers in STEM professions.” (Forbes, 2023) 

“If women or young girls are studying the latest technologies in school, it creates a positive impact on the way the world runs in the future,” said Mindy Davis, Vice President of Global Marketing for SAP Digital Supply Chain, in a recent "The Future of Supply Chain" podcast episode, “How Innovation and Technology are opening doors for women in Supply Chain.” 

According to AAUW, “Girls and women are systematically tracked away from science and math throughout their education, limiting their access, preparation and opportunities to go into these fields as adults. Giving women equal opportunities to pursue — and thrive in — STEM careers help narrow the gender pay gap, enhances women’s economic security, ensures a diverse and talented STEM workforce and prevents biases in these fields and the products and services they produce.” 

Check this out if more interested: A product of a partnership between AAUW and Dell Playbook on Best Practices: Gender Equity in Tech equips advocates and employers with data-driven strategies and actionable steps to increase the representation of women in engineering and computing fields – to accelerate the rate of change and break through barriers for women in the workplace. 

Let me know your thoughts!