Statement by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on International Women’s Day
Growing up in Louisiana, if I wanted to learn something new, I visited the library and I borrowed a book. Today, we can access volumes of information on our phones and computers. The digital revolution is here, but we haven’t all arrived equipped with the same skills or the same level of access.
The 2023 theme for International Women’s Day is, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.” Around the world, women and girls disproportionately lack digital resources – this is especially critical for women and girls with disabilities. To close the divide, it is imperative to build their skills and promote digital literacy so they can harness the productive potential of technology.
Throughout my travels I’ve seen firsthand that increasing the participation of women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics stimulates innovation and creativity that results in economic growth.
Yet, while access to digital platforms can be a source of empowerment for women and girls globally, we also know that they face disproportionate risks of gender-based violence online. Women in politics, journalists, human rights defenders, and other civil society actors are acutely impacted.
At the UN, we are working to strengthen systems that prevent and respond to all forms of gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
In December, the United States released an action-oriented update to the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally which for the first time includes a focus on addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence. This strategy drives a comprehensive, unified, interagency response to gender-based violence abroad through U.S. foreign policy and assistance.
This International Women’s Day, we must ensure that women and girls in all their diversity are equipped to take their seats at the table – both offline and online.
Original source can be found here.
