ITU and UN Women announce partnership to reduce gender gap in the digital age

The ITU and UN Women launched EQUALS: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, a coalition of programmes in the public and private sector dedicated to strengthening the presence of women and girls in several technology sectors. EQUALS will focus on addressing Sustainable Development Goal 5b: “Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology (ICTs), to promote the empowerment of women”. ITU’s ICT Fact and Figures 2016 estimates that there are some 250 million fewer women online than men and that the global Internet user gender gap grew from 11 per cent in 2013 to 12 per cent in 2016. The Global Partnership will focus on three areas of action: achieving equal access to digital technologies; empowering women and girls with skills to become ICT creators; Promoting women as ICT leaders and entrepreneurs.