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Women's rights

Pacific UN Teams Mark International Women's Day, Calling for Closure of Digital Divide

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The United Nations teams across the Pacific marked International Women's Day, highlighting the achievements of women and girls and the need to enhance their lives through opportunity, inclusion, and equality. The digital revolution presents immense potential for social and economic outcomes but must be harnessed for good to prevent online and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. Despite efforts to further women's empowerment and gender equality, analysis reveals a persistent digital divide, regardless of a country's ICT access levels, economic performance, or geographic location. The call to action is clear: act quickly to close the digital divide entirely.

Key Takeaways:

  • The UN launched a "Digital Economy Report: Pacific Edition 2022" revealing a digital divide persists despite efforts to further women's empowerment and gender equality.
  • The report highlights the importance of ensuring the inclusion of women and others at risk of discrimination into the technology fold to create more creative solutions and innovations that meet women's needs and promote gender equality.
  • SDG 5, Gender Equality, has regressed in the Pacific region, and stakeholders must expedite joint efforts to reverse this trend.
  • The exclusion of women from the digital world has shaved US$1 trillion from the GDP of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade and will grow to US$1.5 trillion by 2025 without action.
  • Papua New Guinea has 10% fewer women than men with mobile phones, and 23% fewer women than men use mobile internet, limiting their participation in the digital economy.
  • In Micronesia, leaders agreed to develop the first Micronesian Gender Equality Framework by 2025 to address inequalities and barriers to empowering women and girls.
  • The UN has been supporting governments in Micronesia with gender-mainstreaming policies and actions to address gender-based violence and discrimination.
  • Ending violence against women and girls is fundamental to the empowerment of women, and measures are being taken to prevent and respond to violence, including the launch of the Talanoa Toolkit for village-based advocates against family violence in Samoa.
  • Online violence against women and girls is a persistent issue that requires laws, regulations, prevention strategies, and response services to effectively address.

Statistics:

  • US$1 trillion has been shaved from the GDP of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade due to the exclusion of women from the digital world (The UN's Gender Snapshot 2022 Report).
  • The exclusion of women from the digital world will grow to US$1.5 trillion by 2025 if action is not taken (The UN's Gender Snapshot 2022 Report).
  • Papua New Guinea has 10% fewer women than men with mobile phones (Source: n/a).
  • Papua New Guinea has 23% fewer women than men using mobile internet (Source: n/a).
  • SDG 5, Gender Equality, has regressed in the Pacific region (Source: n/a).

Sources:

  • "Digital Economy Report: Pacific Edition 2022" (United Nations)
  • "The UN's Gender Snapshot 2022 Report" (United Nations)
  • "Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration 2012" (Pacific governments)

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