Open Forum #32 Shaping an equal digital future with WSIS+20 & Beijing+30

Summary

This discussion focused on gender equality in the context of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and related digital initiatives. Participants explored how to leverage the GDC to address gender gaps in artificial intelligence, digital access, and technology leadership. They emphasized the importance of mainstreaming gender perspectives in digital strategies and policies.

Key points included the need for gender-responsive AI development, addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and promoting women’s representation in tech industries and STEM education. Speakers highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation and partnerships in implementing the GDC’s gender equality principles.

The discussion touched on the digital gender divide, noting that globally there are still 189 million more men than women using the internet. Participants stressed the need for increased investments in digital infrastructure, skills development programs targeting women and girls, and efforts to make online spaces safer for women.

Several speakers emphasized the importance of data collection, particularly gender-disaggregated data, to inform policies and measure progress. The role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) was discussed, with a call for gender-responsive design in DPI solutions.

Looking ahead, participants suggested creating a standalone action line for gender in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, integrating digital issues into the Beijing+30 review, and implementing gender-responsive budgeting and procurement in technology initiatives. The discussion concluded by emphasizing the ongoing nature of these efforts and the need for continued collaboration across various UN processes and stakeholder groups.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The Global Digital Compact (GDC) and its incorporation of gender equality principles

– Addressing gender gaps in AI development and governance

– Promoting women’s digital skills, leadership, and representation in tech industries

– Implementing gender-responsive digital public infrastructure (DPI)

– WSIS process and plans for mainstreaming gender in digital initiatives

The overall purpose of the discussion was to examine how gender equality and women’s empowerment are being addressed in global digital policies and initiatives, particularly the Global Digital Compact, and to identify key actions needed to create a more inclusive digital ecosystem.

The tone of the discussion was largely analytical and solution-oriented. Speakers highlighted both progress made and remaining challenges in achieving digital gender equality. There was a sense of urgency in addressing gaps, but also optimism about opportunities to advance gender-responsive approaches through multi-stakeholder collaboration. The tone remained consistent throughout, with all participants contributing constructive ideas and recommendations.

Speakers

– Papa Seck: Chief of Research and Data Section at UN Women

– Helene Molinier: Leads the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality at UN Women

– Roy Eriksson: Finland’s Global Gateway Ambassador

– Isabel De Sola: From the UN Secretary General’s Tech Envoy office

– Radka Sibille: Digital affairs advisor at the EU delegation in Geneva

– Hajjar El Haddaoui: Chief of digital economy and foresight at the Digital Cooperation Organization

Additional speakers:

– Nandini Chami: Deputy director of research and policy and engagement at IT4Change

– Tala Debs: WSIS and SDGs project coordinator at ITU

– Caitlin Kraft-Buchman: From Women at the Table and A+ Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms

Revised Summary: Gender Equality in the Global Digital Compact and Related Initiatives

This event, organized by UN Women and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), focused on gender equality in the context of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and related digital initiatives. The discussion explored how to leverage the GDC to address gender gaps in artificial intelligence, digital access, and technology leadership, emphasizing the importance of mainstreaming gender perspectives in digital strategies and policies.

Introduction and Overview:

Helene Molinier, Director of the Innovation and Technology Facility at UN Women, opened the discussion by highlighting the GDC’s acknowledgment of gender disparities and its inclusion of gender equality as one of its 13 principles. She emphasized the risk of “double exclusion” for women in the digital realm and stressed the need for clear targets and accountability mechanisms for GDC commitments.

EU Perspective:

Radka Sibille, Deputy Head of Division for Digital Technologies at the European External Action Service, affirmed that gender equality is strongly enshrined in the GDC. She highlighted EU initiatives aimed at making online spaces safer for women and emphasized the importance of investing in digital infrastructure and skills programmes for women.

Finland’s Contribution:

Roy Eriksson, representing Finland’s Permanent Mission to the UN, discussed Finland’s commitment to addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence. He noted the GDC’s commitment to developing methodologies to counter digital violence and highlighted the work of Finland’s Generation Equality Youth Group in promoting gender equality in technology.

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Process:

Tala Debs, Digital Inclusion Specialist at ITU, explained how the WSIS process champions ICTs and gender mainstreaming. She provided specific statistics on the digital gender divide, noting that globally there are still 259 million fewer women than men using the internet. Debs also introduced the WSIS Gender Trendsetters and Repository of Women in Technology initiatives.

Digital Public Infrastructure and AI:

Isabel De Sola, Senior Advisor at the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, discussed the need for partnerships to develop gender-affirming AI, noting that current AI models are likely not gender-responsive due to data biases.

Nandini Chami, Deputy Director of IT for Change, argued that data governance in digital public infrastructure (DPI) must be evaluated through a gender justice lens, emphasizing the importance of public consultations with affected communities in DPI design.

Digital Economy Navigator:

Hajjar El Haddaoui, Chief Impact Officer at the Digital Cooperation Organization, introduced the concept of a Digital Economy Navigator to assess countries’ progress on digital equity. She noted that the GDC offers a framework for cooperation on gender equality and highlighted the organization’s work in promoting digital inclusion.

Recommendations and Action Items:

1. Develop effective methodologies to measure, monitor, and counter digital violence against women.

2. Increase investments in digital infrastructure and skills programmes targeting women and marginalized communities.

3. Integrate gender perspectives into policies and programmes addressing disinformation.

4. Implement the Digital Economy Navigator to assess countries’ progress on digital equity.

5. Support the WSIS Gender Trendsetters and Repository of Women in Technology initiatives.

6. Create a standalone action line for gender in the WSIS process.

7. Integrate digital issues into the Beijing+30 review.

8. Collaborate on a WSIS-Beijing+30 Common Action Plan for bridging the gender digital divide.

Caitlin Craft Bachman, from UN Women, concluded the discussion by suggesting the creation of a standalone action line for gender in the WSIS process and the integration of digital issues into the Beijing+30 review. She also proposed collaborating on a WSIS-Beijing+30 Common Action Plan for bridging the gender digital divide.

Conclusion:

The discussion highlighted the ongoing nature of efforts to achieve digital gender equality and the need for continued collaboration across various UN processes and stakeholder groups. While there was broad agreement on the importance of gender equality in digital technologies, the speakers emphasized the need for concrete actions, clear accountability mechanisms, and multi-stakeholder cooperation to translate the principles of the Global Digital Compact into meaningful change for women and girls worldwide.

Papa Seck: Greetings, everyone, and welcome to this session. My name is Papa Seck, and I’m the Chief of Research and Data Section at UN Women. In my section, we also have the work on digital technology and innovation, so it’s really a pleasure to host this session this evening. So just quickly, next year, obviously, as we’ve been speaking about, we will celebrate WSIS Plus 20. But it’s also an important year for gender equality, because it is the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. So the issues related to technology and digital will also be front and center of that discussion. At UN Women, we host the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation, which is part of the Generation Equality Forum, and you will hear about that shortly from a colleague of mine, Helen Molina, who really leads that exercise. But before giving her the floor, I just wanted to welcome you all to this really exciting panel and this exciting discussion, and I really hope that we will all be able to gain some insight from it. So without further ado, I’ll give the floor to my colleague, Helen, who will do the presentation for us. Helen, over to you.

Helene Molinier: Thank you very much, Papa, and good afternoon to everyone. I hope you can hear me OK. It’s actually great that the technology allows me to be with you today, even though I cannot be here in person. So I’ll start just with a few words to reflect back on the GDC journey and to set the scene before the panel. Just to say that over the last two years, we’ve ignited multi-stakeholder conversation at UN Women level on how to leverage the GDC to drive a more equitable digital transformation. We did that first by publishing a position paper on how to take forward the recommendation of CSW67 and integrate them into the GDC negotiation. A lot of these efforts were led by the members of the Action Coalition on Technology Innovation for Gender Equality, and 10 governments in particular that launched a call to action a year before the GDC to mainstream and prioritise gender perspective in the negotiation. They were also led by civil society organisations, which developed the feminist principle for including gender in the GDC, and this principle emphasised on the need for a right-based, gender-responsive digital framework. In the current multilateral context, reaching consensus on the GDC has been an achievement. And for us, I think the first lesson is that it has been the confirmation that collective multi-stakeholder efforts can clearly contribute to positioning gender perspective into negotiations at the intergovernmental level. As a result of this work and these efforts, what we have now is a GDC that does acknowledge gender disparities, and I think this is a welcome recognition, finally, that digital technologies are far from being neutral. Obviously, another step in the right direction has been that the GDC recognised gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as one of the 13 GDC principles. The GDC reaffirms many recommendations from CSW67 agreed conclusions, including the mainstreaming of gender perspectives in digital strategies, the need to address barriers to meaningful, safe and equitable digital access for women and girls, and the fact that we need to promote women leadership and participation in technology and digital decisions. And obviously, that we need to urgently address gender-based violence, which occurs through or is amplified by the use of technology. There are a few other great opportunities in the GDC, especially the fact that it acknowledges the data divides, the need to target capacity building and entrepreneurship for women, or the fact that we need to support inclusive STEM education. And all these are really truly valuable commitments. But we all know that having aspirational language won’t be enough. And so we have a collective responsibility to ensure that the GDC implementation is set on clear targets and accountability mechanisms, so that commitments to gender equality are more than symbolic. We cannot rely only on ethical guidelines. We need to put in place enforceable standards grounded in international human rights. A few of the gaps may be that we have in the GDC. We find them, for example, on emerging topics such as AI and GPI. And here the references to gender equality have not been included in the final draft. And as a result, we feel that it perpetuates gaps that have led to the current state of digital inequity that we have. We cannot have digital technologies or digital infrastructure deployed without assessing their broader associative risk and opportunities. And so having these gaps, it means that women are at risk of being doubly excluded, being excluded first of the economic opportunities that AI or GPI can offer, but also excluded for the governance decision in shaping their deployment. In the GDC, we see calls for investments in connectivity, in transfer of technology, in GPI, but there is no strong call to invest in people. And so the problem at stake today, it’s not just about being online. It’s about not being erased or excluded from digital innovation altogether. And so we have currently a gender divide that is driven by structural inequalities and they are deep rooted and they prevent women from accessing the technical and financial resources that would help them benefit from the digital revolution. And so this is something we feel must be acknowledged, must be reversed. And as Papa mentioned, next year we have two important milestones. We have the review of YSYS, 20 years since its inception, and the review of the Beijing platform, 30 years since it was adopted. And they both offer a unique opportunity, not only to review this mechanism, but also to advance GDC implementation. And so the objective of today’s session is that we collectively shape a cohesive action agenda and chart the path forward and to ensure that gender equality, that women’s digital rights are not merely mentioned, but that they are prioritized in the implementation of all these instruments, YSYS, Beijing, GDC, and that they all come together. And so this is the objective of today’s discussion and we look forward to this exciting panel and over to you, Papa and colleagues. Great.

Papa Seck: Thank you, Hélène. Really, again, I do recall this work and really trying to shape a paper to guide discussions on the GDC, at least trying to, as much as possible, to integrate a gender perspective. And I think this is really one of the, I would say, key achievements of the Action Coalition. So congratulations to you and to colleagues for this excellent work. So now I’ll just turn to the panel. We have a great panel of speakers. So I have Isabel Dossola-Criado, who’s from the office of the UN Secretary General’s tech envoy. Mr. Roy Ericsson, who’s Finland’s global gateway ambassador. Ms. Radka Sibyl, who’s a digital affairs advisor at the EU delegation in Geneva. And Ms. Salah Abdullal, who’s the chief of digital economy and foresight at the Digital Cooperation Organization. And then we have two speakers who are online, Ms. Nandini Chami, who’s the deputy director of research and policy and engagement at IT4Change. And Ms. Talha Debs, who’s the YSYS and SDGs project coordinator at ITU. So I’ll start with you, Isabel, and just a reminder that we have about, I think, four minutes each in terms of answers so that we can stick to the time. So Isabel, who, in your view, what would be the building blocks of a… of gender responsive AI, recognizing both its transformative power, but also the risks that are inherent in it.

Isabel De Sola: How can we leverage the GDC to bridge the gender gaps in AI and governance? Thank you so much for having me. It’s really a pleasure to join this conversation. I’m Isabel De Sola from the UN Secretary General’s Tech Envoy. We, our office recently led a process accompanying a high level advisory body on AI in their research and consultations around the world to emerge recommendations from the field, from countries, from academics, scientists on how to govern AI for humanity. And we held a very interesting session on the question of women and gender and the governance of AI. The results of the high level body’s process are available online. It’s a wonderful report. And a couple of them landed in the Global Digital Compact, which was recently approved at the end of the Summit of the Future. So the high level body offered up its recommendations to the process of the Summit of the Future. And through interaction and negotiation, the member states accepted two and maybe one more of those recommendations, which means that alongside the GDC’s enunciation of a principle for gender equality and empowerment, we also link a way forward on AI governance. So to take your second question first, Papa, it’s rather abstract, to be honest. How do we leverage the GDC? It’s a little bit abstract, but essentially what we’ve put into the GDC are these two issues side by side. So we wanna govern AI for humanity, but we need to do so in a way that is gender empowering. And that’s important because words matter, and this is an agenda that we can take forward to bring stakeholders together to cooperate on concrete tasks, which I think is actually much more interesting to address the question of how do we make sure that AI works for women? Well, the truth is that right now, we’ve got a lot of problems in front of us with AI. So the number one is that it’s data driven, and the data is mostly in seven languages, mostly in English, and it doesn’t represent actually data necessarily generated by women around the world. Certainly not women of color, certainly not women in rural areas who may not have access to connectivity. And underneath that, it’s maybe not girls as well that are generating that data. So the AI models that are being developed at the moment, unfortunately, they’re probably not going to be gender responsive. Not all is lost, because I think that these agendas have done a tremendous job of sounding the alarm from the get-go. So what didn’t happen with the internet, which was to say from the get-go, how does the internet work for women? That’s happening now, is that from the get-go, the UN will take its first steps in implementation of the GDC, keeping the gender empowerment principle and actions in mind. And there’s a second principle that I think can help us from the GDC, which is to work in partnerships. And that’s the end of day one here at the IGF. It’s starting to sound a little bit trite to say that, but I have an example. So we know that current LLMs are not necessarily gender empowering, but if we work in partnerships, and because of the high visibility that’s been created on this risk, we might be able to steward these LLMs and generative AI in a way that is more gender reaffirming. So I heard during our consultations for the high level advisory bodies report, I heard an academic say something that I should give her copyright for, but she said, it takes a village to raise a gender affirming AI. So we need to work with the companies, academics, scientists need to look closely at their data and at their models. Tweak the data, data can be tweaked. We need to roll it out into the world and have civil society accompany its applications in the world, and a feedback loop from civil society to companies to tweak it again. Oh, okay, sorry. And probably I’m talking too much. Let me check the time, I’ve gone through four minutes. Okay, sorry, I’m talking too much. It takes a village, meaning academics and scientists, let’s look at the data together, make it more friendly towards women. Let’s look at the applications. What is the user loop? So some applications, we may not be able to tell ahead of time how those applications will affect women and girls. So working with civil society and governments to have a feedback loop towards the companies and a human in the loop that can help to train up women for the use of these AIs or the reverse, tweak them so that they are more gender friendly. So those are just some concrete, one abstract idea about the policy world and one concrete idea of partnerships. Thank you.

Papa Seck: Thank you, thank you very much. And sorry, it was my headphones that weren’t working. So Roy, now I turn to you. In your view, is the GDC adequately addressing the risks of gender disinformation, discrimination and technology facilitated violence against gender-based violence? Or what do you think are the key measures that are required to ensure that women and girls can benefit from a safe and empowering environment? Well, thank you.

Roy Eriksson: So my name is Roy Eriksson and I’m the Global Gateway Ambassador for Finland. And Global Gateway is a EU initiative to finance big infrastructure projects in the Global South. In my answers, actually, in order to save some time, I will concentrate mainly on the TFGB issue, but I will only refer to the first question that the UN Special Rapporteur, Irene Kahn, tackled the topic of gender disinformation in her report for the 47th UN General Assembly. One of her recommendations is that states should integrate fully gendered perspectives into their policies and programs to address disinformation and misinformation in digital literacy programs. So that is also something that we do in Finland. Already from primary school, we teach media literacy to our kids so that they can have better tools to understand what is real information and what is maybe disinformation of some sort. When preparing and negotiating the Global Digital Compact, gender equality was one of Finland’s top priorities. We are pleased that it is one of the principles highlighted in the compact, emphasizing the cross-cutting nature. There are also concrete commitments related to technology-facilitated and gender-based violence in the compact. From the point of view of this discussion, the most important one is the commitment to develop effective methodologies to measure, monitor, and counter all forms of violence and abuse in digital space. The problem is very real. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 38% of women have personal experience of digital violence and 85% of women using the internet have witnessed digital violence against other women. In Finland, latest research shows, for example, that digital violence is the most common form of violence in young people’s intimate relationships. This issue has wider repercussions as it is also a real threat to democracy because it threatens to limit the participation of women and girls in society and societal debate. But what can the GDC do and what should we focus on in implementing this commitment? First, we need more data and evidence to base our actions on. In this, it is critical that the private sector is able to track this phenomena and share data with researchers and authorities. More transparency is needed on the part of platforms where these activities take place. Second, we need effective grievance mechanism where users can report concerns and raise issues followed by action on the part of platform operators and service providers. Third, human rights perspectives need to be mainstreamed in the design of new digital technologies, including digital services, so as to be able to understand their potential human rights impacts and anticipate the need to protect women and girls from risk. And finally, updating our legislative means and ensuring our law enforcement and judiciary systems are capable of addressing TFGB, be our key. Concrete measures need to be taken to ensure that national legislation, policies, strategies and action plans on the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence include online gender-based violence. Law enforcement and the judiciary system need to be able to recognize, prevent, investigate and address this problem. Improving services for survivors is also of critical importance. Finland has taken these issues seriously. The DGC reinforces the need for multi-stakeholder cooperation in implementing the UN Digital Agenda. The compact is not only important for states, but also for non-state actors, the private sector, civil society and academia. The DGC anchors the Agenda for Digital Cooperation firmly under the UN Charter and respects international law and human rights. This responsibility concerns both the states and the private sector, and I hope we can together address TFGB in implementing the compact. And lastly, I would like to mention Finland’s Generation Equality Youth Group as an example of civil society’s active engagement. Established in 2021, it consists of 27 young people who focus on advancing gender equality through advocacy. They have published two manifestos called Right to be Online. The first one is for the technology sector, and the second one, which was published only three weeks ago, is for decision makers on how to tackle gender-based online violence. I will stop here and look forward to this. Is it okay now? Sorry about that. One of my functions at UN Women is actually, I’m the Chief of Research and Data, so we do work a lot on the measurement side, particularly here on the measurement of technology-facilitated violence. And it’s exciting that one of the things that we are now doing is really developing a consistent and broad framework for measuring and monitoring the TFGB. And I think that’s really going to advance us in terms of documenting the problem, measuring it, but also addressing it. So thank you very much. So, Bisabel, let me turn to you. The GDC includes references to digital skills and leadership in technology. Are they sufficient, and how can we address gender-based disparities in digital access and promote women’s representation in tech industries, in STEM education, but also in decision-making roles? Thank you. Thank you so much. And it’s a pleasure to be here, so thanks for having me.

Radka Sibille: My name is Radka Sibila, and I work for the European Union delegation to the United Nations in Geneva. The EU was very closely involved in the negotiations of the GDC, and we are very happy to see that the GDC is so strongly enshrined in the human rights, in the international human rights law, including with regards to the gender perspective. As was already mentioned, the GDC upholds the gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. And it also speaks about the different targets and about the different obstacles that we need to overcome. So we would need to work on affordable connectivity, digital skilling, and inclusion of women in the tech positions. But, you know, as was already mentioned, the GDC is just a framework, and it can only be impactful if we are able to implement it together and forcefully. And this is going to be a work of the, you know, all the multi-stakeholder community. And the journey will be long, as we already heard during the high-level segment this morning. You know, the representation of women in the tech force, in the tech workforce is very low still. So, for instance, you know, when I read the statistics from the women in tech in Europe, there is only, you know, women comprise only about 19% of the tech workforce. The number is even lower in the leadership positions. And we also saw that during COVID, for instance, women in tech sector faced a likelihood of being furloughed or laid off twice as high as that of their male peers. We also see in those statistics that only 2.3% of women-led startups, for instance, can get venture capital funding. And if you look at the developing countries, you know, the obstacles and challenges are made even greater by the overall global digital divide and the lack of access to meaningful connectivity. So, what do we need to do? There is yet another obstacle that was also mentioned that once women actually get online, they sometimes face gender-based violence. So, the environment online is not safe enough for them. So, I would just like to highlight maybe three points that we need to concentrate on. First is to increase investments overall in the digital infrastructure including broadband connectivity, but also promotion of digital skills and literacy programs that will particularly target the marginalized communities. We also need to increase women’s representation in tech industries, in the STEM education and decision-making roles. And of course, we need to try to make the online space safer for women with zero tolerance to gender-based violence online. We as the EU, we are trying to do that as Team Europe through our Global Gateway project. I will mention just a couple of them. So, for instance, in Mozambique, we have a great initiative. It’s called Vamos Digital and it’s about creating space for digital skills and coding forces for high school students that target particularly women and girls. And we also cooperate with regard to the overall connectivity and bridging the digital divide. We cooperate with the ITU on a project regarding meaningful connectivity indicators that is being implemented in several countries of the world. And then when it comes to the online digital space, as you might have seen, the EU has produced a number of digital legislation pieces which are based on the human rights-based approach to technologies, and in particularly also trying to make the online space safe for women. So, for instance, the Digital Services Act, which is also targeting the content of the social media platforms, or the AI Act, which is trying to regulate the high-risk situations where AI can be misused or can have a negative impact on human rights, including women’s rights. And I will be happy to then answer more questions. Thank you so much.

Papa Seck: Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, Miss Hara, let me turn to you. As you know, the work that you do at Digital DCO is really important. There have been many conversations in the lead-up to the GDC on the need to strengthen capacity and address knowledge, a lot of it that you already do. We also talked about resource gaps a lot, especially for low-income countries. How can we make sure we prioritize the generation of knowledge, build capacities, but also generate resources towards ambitious actions that can help us to really, I think, bridge what a lot of us have been talking about here, which is fundamentally the gender-digital divide. So, what is it, from your experience, can you give us some clues on how we may be able to do that?

Hajjar El Haddaou: Thank you so much. I guess. Thank you so much. So, I think what is very important, I would like to build on what you have said from the EU, is that the GDC are principles that we are all agreeing on. Even at DCO, it’s our core mandate is to ensure that every person, every business, every nation has a fair opportunity to participate and have an equal access to all the opportunities that is offered by the digital economy. And this aligns well with what we are trying to achieve by the GDC and the principles of equitable access for everyone. And you have even shed the light, it has been shed the light, how important that those principles need to be translated into actions. And this is also a part of what we have tried to do is, because we have done a lot of conversation on the GDC, we have been involved. Recently, we have launched what we call the Digital Economy Navigator, which will help in assessing, first of all, if we want to really move forward and have progress towards an equitable opportunity, we need to measure where we are. We really need to understand where we are. understand where is the gap, what is exactly missing in different countries. And this is what we are trying to do with the Digital Economy Navigator, which is, again, based on the importance of society, having a dimension of society, having them a share of a fair opportunity, and having that enabler layer from government with the right Internet access, with the right infrastructure, with the right policies that will enable that. And we assess the country, what are the gaps for those countries, how they can progress. And we have included, there are 50 countries, we have included some of the LDCs countries within our assessment. And from what we are seeing, what we are seeing is that we really need to focus on having those data, and on those data for women, having the right for them to get the right skills to really be part of this acceleration. Isabella talked about AI, and how it’s very important in place, how to include the different languages. And this is even what we are trying to do with all the initiatives in DCO, to build upon those principles that are set in the GDC, to make sure that everyone have that right skills, have the right investment in technology from women, different startups, SMEs, all of them, to make sure that it has to be a multi-stakeholder approach. It’s not upon just one country, or one organization, it needs to be a cooperation, a private sector between the governments, between us as international organizations, to really work together, because no one entity or one nation can solve this issue alone. It needs a unite of efforts and direction, which the GCD is offering already, and I think this is the only approach and the only way that this can happen.

Papa Seck: Great, thank you very much. And I think the theme of multi-stakeholders is really resonating, I think, across the past couple of days. So, I’ll now turn to Ms. Chami, and here, Ms. Chami, my question is regarding something that is not in the GDC, particularly DPI, digital public infrastructure. And just this morning, during the plenary, I think we heard about DPI, but also AI-DPI, and here, again, we see a gender perspective that is fundamentally missing. What do you think are the key principles of thinking gender by design that can be applied here?

Speaker 1: Hi, thank you for the question. I hope that you can hear me online and offline as well. Yeah. So, just to get to that, so let’s first understand what we’re all talking about when we talk about digital public infrastructure. And here, I think that UNDP DPI safeguards working groups’ definition of DPI, referring to an umbrella term that refers to a gamut of secure and interoperable digital system solutions for enabling the delivery of public services, is useful to think about. And when you’re looking at gender by design, feminists have long recognized that infrastructures are not value-neutral artifacts, but rather they are political ecosystems. And we can recall the feminist argument for the right to reproductive health services to be actioned as a feminist infrastructural right through gender-responsive design of public health clinic infrastructure as far ago as 30 years back in the days of the ICPD. And so, DPI is, of course, no exception to the gender by design argument. With this background, now when we look at the question of the first principles of actioning gender-responsive DPI, there are some insights I want to share from our research at IT4Change about some principles. So number one, data governance choices in DPI solutions embody an exercise power, and therefore, design choices must be evaluated through the gender justice lens in all stages of the data lifecycle. So to begin with, with respect to data collection and processing in DPIs that support public service delivery, we must use the principle of data minimization. And further, when we encode gender realities in data categories, we need to pay attention to intersectional power and how it operates, and what kind of database sorting and targeting are we deploying. Secondly, we need to give equal attention to the question of downstream data use. Data governance frameworks of DPIs need to be grounded in feminist data justice visions by protecting the right of all data subjects to dignity, privacy, personal autonomy, and the right to be represented in database decision-making, and most importantly, the right to collectively determine how the social commons of data are preserved and promoted for public value and public benefit. The commons of public welfare data cannot become a free-for-all resource that the market exploits without any benefit sharing with relevant data communities. Secondly, when adopting DPI solutions, particularly in the global South where gender digital divides in access and use continue to persist, we cannot lead to a digital-by-default solution which results in the exclusion of women from full citizenship and access to their rightful entitlements. This also means that rather than looking at mobile as last-mile imaginaries, the older and abiding issue of public access points being citizen kiosks for digital public service delivery, we need to have them as integral to DPI imaginaries. My final point is about reimagining DPI as democratic, participatory, accountable infrastructures because after all, gender inclusion is a project of democracy as the Southern Feminist Movement shows us. What this means is that in the design and development of DPIs, we need to leave no one behind. Institutional safeguards for public consultations to guide techno-design choices in DPI design and rollout should be happening not just with affected communities but also frontline workers, the majority of whom are women, whose labor will be implicated in the transition to digital public service delivery. Further, and most importantly, we need legal guarantees to protect women’s human rights bottom lines in DPI implementation, especially in public-private partnership arrangements that are becoming increasingly common in the turn to AI-enabled public service delivery where AI system operators and AI system providers, the government and private partners will be in new relationships. A legally guaranteed right to explanation in DPI deployment is particularly critical in this context for democratic accountability. Last but not the least, last-mile institutional support for addressing intersectional exclusions and discrimination, the right to grievance redress in DPI systems in welfare service delivery becomes crucial. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you very much.

Papa Seck: And really, you know, again, really excellent principles, and I think, you know, we’ve missed it in the GDC, but we have to make sure that it is part of its implementation. So, and I think this is really, again, a role, there is a role in it for everyone. I think that’s where the issue of multi-stakeholders really do come in. And my final question is to Ms. Tara Debs. The GDC recommends mainstreaming a gender perspective in connectivity strategies. How has the YCIS process been addressing gender mainstreaming? And what are the plans for YCIS plus 20 to continue fostering a more inclusive digital ecosystem and support implementation of the GDC? We can’t hear. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. So, I’m very pleased to take part in this important panel discussion. Since its inception in 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society has set out a vision for harnessing information and communication technologies to promote gender equality.

Speaker 2: The YCIS Declaration of Principles affirms that development of ICTs provides enormous opportunities for women who should be an integral part of and key actors of the information society. The inclusion of women and Girls is paramount to bridging the digital gender divide. It aligns with the WSIS’s vision to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented information and knowledge societies where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information. However, the digital gender divide remains one of the greatest barriers to the meaningful participation of women in society. According to the latest ITU facts and figure in 2024, 70% of women are using the internet, compared to 65% of women. This means that globally, there are 189 million more men than women using the internet in 2024. While significant progress has been made, the estimated 2.6 billion people who remain unconnected are primarily women and girls, especially from LDCs, where progress is actually, unfortunately, moving backward. For the past 20 years, the WSIS process has been instrumental in bridging these issues and bringing them to the forefront. Gender mainstreaming is a cross-cutting issue across all 11 WSIS action lines, which offer a robust framework to promote meaningful, affordable access to digital literacy and empowerment for women, among other objectives. At the annual WSIS Forum, WSIS persistently champions a special track on ICTs and gender mainstreaming, and from this special track, we have launched initiatives such as the WSIS Gender Transactors, WSIS Stocktaking Repository of Women and Technology, which is a unique platform which aims to identify and connect women leaders and practitioners across the digital realm for development and to create spaces for networking, mentorship sessions, and documentations of best practices. I actually invite you all to join this repository. And of course, the WSIS Gender Transactors, who pledge to actively champion and advocate for and promote the inclusion of gender consideration in the digital discourse. Another important aspect to highlight is the WSIS Stocktaking and the WSIS Prizes, serving as a valuable resource, with more than 13,000 projects sharing gender-sensitive projects that promote digital inclusion from across the world and facilitating their replication among multi-stakeholders. For instance, projects like Our Girls, Our Future by Ghana Yielding Accomplished African Women have been recognized in 2021 for addressing the barriers women face in accessing digital technologies, specifically targeting women in underrepresented communities and regions. As we look toward WSISPASS20, gender mainstreaming remains a priority in fostering a more inclusive digital ecosystem. The upcoming review in 2025 provides an opportunity to evaluate progress, identify gaps, and develop strategies that align with the recently adopted Global Digital Compact, where gender perspectives are central to its implementation, and of course, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Some of the work includes continue encouraging the development of gender-responsive technology and innovation that take cater to the needs of women and girls through partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaborations. Keep supporting the data collection and gender disaggregated data collection to better inform policies and initiatives using the Partnership on Measuring ICTs for Development. Under WSIS Action Line C4 Capacity Building, keep supporting and scaling Skills Development Program, specifically designed for women and girls in more regions to accelerate progress. Great examples are the ITU’s Equals Global Partnership, focusing on access, skills, leaderships, and research. The AI Skill Accelerator for Girls, which aims to equip young women and marginalized communities with the capacity to become AI creators and not just consumers. Promoting gender-responsive policies, advocating for policies that address affordability, online safety, and equitable access to digital resources for women and marginalized groups. Collaborating with UN Women and other stakeholders on a WSIS Beijing plus 30 Common Action Plan for bridging gender digital divide. Through the open consultation process that is currently being active for the preparations towards the WSIS plus 20 High Level Event in 2025, some WSIS stakeholders are calling for a new WSIS Action Line on Gender. Joining the WSIS plus 20 High Level Event 2025 and contributing to the ICTs and gender mainstreaming special track is also an aspect to work towards the WSIS plus 20 review in 2025. To conclude, over the years WSIS has acknowledged the critical importance of fostering digital gender equality and this recognition stems from the understanding that digital inclusion is a cornerstone for achieving broader social and economic equality. The Global Digital Compact, Beijing plus 30, and the WSIS plus 20 review offer a critical opportunity to reimagine the digital future. By doubling down on gender mainstreaming, we can ensure that this digital revolution leaves no one behind. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms. Demps. So, really, you know, again, a very rich discussion and I think, you know, some of the common themes are being highlighted here and so, Helen, maybe let me just turn to you to see if there are maybe a couple of questions. We still have about five minutes, but just in case there are any questions or comments that are coming through the chat. Thank you, Papa. I know that we’re over time, but at least I think

Papa Seck: we have one speaker. Kitli, are you there? Yeah, I’m here. Hi. Thank you very much. So, hello, colleagues and many friends on this panel. Just to go to the, I’m Caitlin Craft

Speaker 3: Bachman from Women at the Table on A plus Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms. I just want to say, as we look to the lessons on gender equality from the GDC, we have a couple of operational ideas. One is to have a standalone action line for gender in WSIS to add an action line. We know that having a standalone paragraph in the GDC, which we worked very hard to incorporate, is a powerful opportunity. We would obviously also like stronger mainstreaming throughout WSIS, which I know they’re working very hard at, but for everybody to support that and advocate. We also think a digital track at Beijing plus 30 and within CSW in general would be a really fabulous addition to bring together the worlds of digital and gender. And to that end, also the use of CEDAW’s very recent general recommendation 40 for parity for women in all forms of decision-making, including in the technology world, which again, we worked very hard for having them mention AI and technology. So, it would be fabulous if that coordination between UN Women, between WSIS, between OSET, the Office for Technology, would be sort of integrated and worked hard on so that we have the floor, the terrible floor, of technology facilitated gender-based violence. But we also start to create a much higher and much wider ceiling for the possibilities that the new technology can bring. And then finally, to help make those possibilities a reality, we would like for everyone to consider gender-responsive budgeting, and in particular, gender-responsive public procurement would set aside for both women-owned businesses and women-run businesses, for which we now have an ISO standard, but also for businesses that address the inequities that women face and sort of work to create a better enabling environment that way. So, it’s not only about more women and more women studying STEM, but it’s also more operations that actually go towards creating different structural barriers. And finally, sex disaggregated data, sex, age, and geography. Thank you very much.

Papa Seck: Thank you very much, and sorry I had to rush you there. But really, again, I wouldn’t prolong this much. I know you have places to be. But really, just I think, thank you to all of you for joining us and for this conversation, and also for those who have joined us online. It’s, you know, we have 25 participants who are still there, really, again, listening to this conversation. And it’s not a one-and-done. We’ll continue this conversation, including through Beijing, WSIS, and next year. So, thank you very much. Thank you.

Agreement Points

Importance of gender equality in digital technologies

Helene Molinier

Roy Eriksson

Radka Sibille

Hajjar El Haddaoui

Speaker 2

GDC acknowledges gender disparities in digital technologies

Gender equality is one of 13 GDC principles

GDC reaffirms recommendations from CSW67 on mainstreaming gender perspectives

GDC offers framework for cooperation on gender equality

WSIS process champions ICTs and gender mainstreaming

Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of recognizing and addressing gender disparities in digital technologies, as reflected in the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and other international frameworks.

Need to address digital violence against women

Roy Eriksson

Radka Sibille

GDC commits to developing methodologies to counter digital violence

Need for more data and evidence on digital violence against women

Importance of effective grievance mechanisms for users to report concerns

EU legislation aims to make online spaces safer for women

Speakers agreed on the urgency of addressing digital violence against women through various means, including data collection, grievance mechanisms, and legislation.

Promoting women’s participation in technology

Radka Sibille

Speaker 2

Need to increase women’s representation in tech industries and STEM education

Importance of investing in digital infrastructure and skills programs for women

Need for gender-responsive technology and innovation

Speakers emphasized the need to increase women’s participation in technology fields through education, skill development, and targeted investments.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the importance of addressing gender biases in AI and data governance to ensure more inclusive and equitable digital technologies.

Isabel De Sola

Speaker 1

Current AI models likely not gender-responsive due to data biases

Data governance in DPI must be evaluated through gender justice lens

Unexpected Consensus

Multi-stakeholder approach to digital gender equality

Helene Molinier

Hajjar El Haddaou

Speaker 1

GDC reaffirms recommendations from CSW67 on mainstreaming gender perspectives

GDC offers framework for cooperation on gender equality

DPI design should include public consultations with affected communities

Despite coming from different sectors, these speakers all emphasized the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach in addressing digital gender equality, suggesting a broader consensus on collaborative efforts.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include recognizing gender disparities in digital technologies, addressing digital violence against women, promoting women’s participation in technology, and the need for gender-responsive AI and data governance.

Consensus level

There is a high level of consensus among the speakers on the importance of gender equality in the digital realm. This strong agreement implies a shared understanding of the challenges and a collective commitment to addressing them, which could facilitate more coordinated and effective actions in implementing the Global Digital Compact and related initiatives.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to addressing gender disparities in AI

Isabel De Sola

Speaker 1

Current AI models likely not gender-responsive due to data biases

Data governance in DPI must be evaluated through gender justice lens

While both speakers acknowledge the need for gender-responsive AI, Isabel De Sola focuses on partnerships to develop gender-affirming AI, while Speaker 1 emphasizes the importance of data governance and evaluation through a gender justice lens.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the specific approaches to implementing gender equality in digital spaces, particularly in AI development, data governance, and addressing digital violence.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the overall goals of promoting gender equality in digital spaces and implementing the GDC. The differences mainly lie in the specific strategies and focus areas each speaker emphasizes. This level of disagreement is not likely to significantly impede progress on the topic, but rather suggests a need for integrated approaches that combine various strategies to achieve comprehensive gender equality in digital spaces.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need to address digital violence against women, but they propose different approaches. Roy Eriksson emphasizes the development of methodologies within the GDC framework, while Radka Sibille highlights EU legislation as a means to create safer online spaces.

Roy Eriksson

Radka Sibille

GDC commits to developing methodologies to counter digital violence

EU legislation aims to make online spaces safer for women

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the importance of addressing gender biases in AI and data governance to ensure more inclusive and equitable digital technologies.

Isabel De Sola

Speaker 1

Current AI models likely not gender-responsive due to data biases

Data governance in DPI must be evaluated through gender justice lens

Key Takeaways

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) acknowledges gender disparities and includes gender equality as a key principle, but implementation with clear targets and accountability is crucial.

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence is a major concern that requires better data, reporting mechanisms, and legislative responses.

There is a significant need to increase women’s representation in tech industries, STEM education, and digital leadership roles.

Current AI and digital public infrastructure (DPI) systems often lack gender-responsive design and need improvement.

Multi-stakeholder cooperation and partnerships are essential for implementing the GDC and addressing gender digital divides.

Resolutions and Action Items

Develop effective methodologies to measure, monitor, and counter digital violence against women

Increase investments in digital infrastructure and skills programs targeting women and marginalized communities

Integrate gender perspectives into policies and programs addressing disinformation

Create a Digital Economy Navigator to assess countries’ progress on digital equity

Support the WSIS Gender Trendsetters and Repository of Women in Technology initiatives

Collaborate on a WSIS-Beijing+30 Common Action Plan for bridging the gender digital divide

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively address gender biases in AI and large language models

Specific mechanisms for enforcing GDC commitments on gender equality

Strategies for increasing venture capital funding for women-led tech startups

Methods to ensure gender-responsive design in digital public infrastructure

Approaches to balance digital-by-default solutions with inclusion of women lacking digital access

Suggested Compromises

Partnering with tech companies, academics, and civil society to develop more gender-affirming AI systems

Balancing digital service delivery with maintaining non-digital access points for those lacking connectivity

Implementing gender-responsive public procurement to support both women-owned businesses and those addressing women’s inequities

We cannot have digital technologies or digital infrastructure deployed without assessing their broader associative risk and opportunities. And so having these gaps, it means that women are at risk of being doubly excluded, being excluded first of the economic opportunities that AI or GPI can offer, but also excluded for the governance decision in shaping their deployment.

speaker

Helene Molinier

reason

This comment highlights the critical importance of considering gender impacts when developing and deploying digital technologies. It introduces the concept of ‘double exclusion’ for women in the digital realm.

impact

This set the tone for much of the subsequent discussion, emphasizing the need for gender-responsive approaches in AI and digital infrastructure development.

It takes a village to raise a gender affirming AI. So we need to work with the companies, academics, scientists need to look closely at their data and at their models. Tweak the data, data can be tweaked. We need to roll it out into the world and have civil society accompany its applications in the world, and a feedback loop from civil society to companies to tweak it again.

speaker

Isabel De Sola

reason

This comment introduces a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to developing gender-affirming AI, emphasizing the importance of ongoing feedback and adjustment.

impact

It shifted the conversation towards practical solutions and highlighted the need for continuous engagement between tech developers and civil society.

Data governance choices in DPI solutions embody an exercise power, and therefore, design choices must be evaluated through the gender justice lens in all stages of the data lifecycle.

speaker

Nandini Chami

reason

This comment brings attention to the power dynamics inherent in data governance and the need to consider gender justice at every stage of data use in digital public infrastructure.

impact

It deepened the discussion on DPI by introducing a critical feminist perspective on data governance and design choices.

We need to put in place enforceable standards grounded in international human rights.

speaker

Helene Molinier

reason

This comment emphasizes the need for concrete, enforceable measures to ensure gender equality in digital spaces, moving beyond aspirational language.

impact

It shifted the focus towards actionable steps and policy measures, influencing subsequent discussions on implementation strategies.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by consistently emphasizing the need for gender-responsive approaches in digital technology development and governance. They moved the conversation from identifying problems to proposing solutions, highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration, data governance, and enforceable standards. The discussion evolved from general principles to specific strategies for implementing gender equality in digital spaces, with a strong focus on practical steps and policy measures.

How can we ensure that the GDC implementation is set on clear targets and accountability mechanisms?

speaker

Helene Molinier

explanation

This is important to ensure commitments to gender equality are more than symbolic and lead to concrete action.

How can we develop effective methodologies to measure, monitor, and counter all forms of violence and abuse in digital space?

speaker

Roy Eriksson

explanation

This is critical for addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence and making the online space safer for women.

How can we increase investments in digital infrastructure, digital skills, and literacy programs that particularly target marginalized communities?

speaker

Radka Sibille

explanation

This is essential for bridging the gender digital divide and ensuring women’s meaningful participation in the digital economy.

How can we implement gender-responsive data governance in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) solutions?

speaker

Nandini Chami

explanation

This is crucial for ensuring that DPI design and implementation do not perpetuate or exacerbate existing gender inequalities.

How can we integrate gender perspectives into AI governance and development?

speaker

Isabel De Sola

explanation

This is important to ensure that AI systems are gender-responsive and do not perpetuate biases against women and girls.

How can we improve data collection and gender-disaggregated data to better inform policies and initiatives in the digital sector?

speaker

Tala Dabbs

explanation

This is crucial for understanding the gender digital divide and designing effective interventions to address it.

How can we implement gender-responsive budgeting and public procurement in the technology sector?

speaker

Caitlin Kraft Buchman

explanation

This could help create a better enabling environment for women-owned and women-run businesses in the tech sector.