Girls are leaders. Girls are powerful. Girls are change-makers. Girls are driving good and growth in India and around the world.
Our girls are a fundamental source of transformational change for gender equality, and technology is a crucial tool to support their work, activism and leadership.
This October 11, UN Women is joining other UN agencies, civil society, and girls around the world to celebrate International Day of the Girl Child under the theme “Digital generation. Our generation.”
Together, we’re calling for equal access to the internet and digital devices for girls’ and targeted investments to facilitate opportunities for girls’ to safely and meaningfully access, use, lead and design technology.
Digital inclusion and literacy open new avenues to learning, earning and leading for girls, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic has also deepened the gender divide around connectivity and online safety, with girls facing economic and social barriers to internet and device access.
Earlier this year, the Generation Equality Forum set technology and innovation as a priority in global conversations on gender equality. Leaders from civil society, governments, the private sector and youth movements made commitments to build more inclusive digital societies through providing equitable opportunities to girls, investing in feminist technology and putting girls and young women at the center of designing and learning solutions for the digital world.
As mentioned earlier, with education going almost completely digital following the onset of the Covid19 pandemic, government has an opportunity to bridge the gender gap but ground realities present a different picture.
Contrary to what was expected, the number of girls attending online classes has seen a huge fall, according to reports by global and domestic organisations, including the UNESCO and the World Bank, who have all advocated policies that would swiftly bridge this gender gap before it becomes a grave social issue
Find out how you can make a difference to our girls in India by empowering them with digital education and access to digital tools.
– Photo Courtesy : UN Women/Ruhani Kaur
