“In developing countries, and around the world, there are millions of girls who could right now be learning from home – if only they were connected.” This was the lament of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, then Executive Director of UN Women, just over a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic had begun to unmask the critical gaps in equality and expose the gender digital divide. Dr. Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary-General, also remarked upon digital inequality; speaking recently at the launch of the CARICOM Digital Skills Task Force in September, Dr. Barnett said that the pandemic had “deepened the existing inequality of access” and “revealed the weakness and unpreparedness of the current education systems worldwide, following the deployment of digital learning during mass school closures across almost all countries.”
Indeed, the global internet user gender gap is growing; 2.2 billion people below the age of 25 do not have internet access at home and girls are more likely to be cut off. Girls are also less likely than boys to use and own devices, and gain access to tech-related skills and jobs. The digital revolution may have started since the mid-21st century but the demand to digitally evolve is greater now than ever before and according to UNICEF, we can only usher in such a revolution “by addressing the inequity and exclusion that span geographies and generations.” It is apt then, that this year, the International Day of the Girl is organised around the theme of “Digital Generation. Our Generation.”
Girls’ Unequal Access to Digital Tools Needed for Learning.
The gender digital divide is only one of multiple forms of intersecting inequalities which women and girls experience and those experiences are differentiated not only along the lines of gender but also by other social and identity markers. This is supported by the 2020 UNICEF report, “Education on Hold: A generation of children in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are missing out on schooling because of COVID-19,” which has underscored how girls, migrants, refugees, children with disabilities, out-of-school children, indigenous children, pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers all need additional support if they are to access and continue learning. Meanwhile, children and adolescents with disabilities lack access to materials, user-friendly formats as well as assistive devices to facilitate their learning. Particularly affected are girls and women who often take on the unpaid work of caring for younger siblings and doing household chores at the expense of learning. The report reveals that the number of children in the LAC region receiving no education – neither in class nor remotely – has been skyrocketing every month since COVID-19 and especially vulnerable are the children living in extreme poverty; 21 per cent of children from the poorest households are not receiving education of any kind compared to 14 per cent from the richest households (UNICEF 2020, 10-16).
Online and ICT-facilitated Violence Against Girls.
While girls have been struggling to continue their learning online due to lack of connectivity and digital access – while they had to endure the atrocities of violence and the multiple violations of their rights that have emerged from being confined at home – those two issues have collided. UN Women reports that women and girls are exposed to high levels of violence through mobile phones and smartphones, the internet, social media platforms and email, and that reports of this have increased during the pandemic (UN Women 2020). According to the latest numbers from the Economist Intelligence Unit, 45% of Generation Z’s and Millennials have experienced online violence. Any goals to diminish the gender digital divide must thus also address the issue of online GBV.
Girls in STEM Fields.
The UNICEF reminds us that the gender digital divide is about more than connectivity but equally about women and girls’ opportunities to learn and work in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields. The reality is that on average globally, only around 30% of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, in their joint message on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021, reminded us that “We need to ensure that women and girls are not only participating in STEM fields, but are empowered to lead and innovate, and that they are supported by workplace policies and organizational cultures that ensure their safety, consider their needs as parents, and incentivize them to advance and thrive in these careers.” Further, UNESCO (2021) states that the under-representation of women in STEM translates into the loss of a critical mass of talent, thoughts and ideas, which hinders countries from reaching their maximum development potential.
Although the statistics are daunting, there is much hope which rests on the Caribbean Community’s commitment to close the disparity between men and women in their access to STEM from an early age in school, and to give women equal opportunity to develop and thrive in STEM careers. There remains considerable work to be done to address the exclusion of girls from STEM fields, however it is evident that the international and Caribbean communities have been listening and acting. There would be no time more befitting that today, the International Day of the Girl 2021, for our region to collectively reassert its commitments to crucial national and regional efforts initiated at the global, intergovernmental level, and take the necessary action to advance the full participation of women girls in the digital economy.
Taking Action
While the current inequities mean that much is at stake for girls, there is also tremendous opportunity for gender-inclusive digital transformation. Ahead of the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda 2021, the leaders of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on “Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality” made a powerful joint statement which emphasised the opportunity more so than the crisis of digital justice for girls:
“At the intersection of the digital evolution and gender equality, let’s commit to engage the diversity of girls and young women in their strength, our strength. If we fail at seizing this lens, a generation of girls will miss out on the catalytic opportunity that COVID-19 has brought us.”
Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL) invites all fellow civil society, non-governmental, youth, and private sector organisations as well as national governments and leaders across the CARICOM, to join us in commemorating International Day of the Girl 2021 by considering the existing gender inequalities but also by identifying opportunities to create solutions and by re-affirming our commitments to equality for the girl child under key international instruments. Let us recall the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child which have proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance. Let us remember our commitments made upon the ratification of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) whereby our governments have vowed to protect and ensure equal rights for women and girls. Let us hold sacred the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world’s most widely ratified human rights treaty which obliges States Parties, inter alia, to protect every child’s well-being, and to recognise every child’s equal right to education. Let us not lose sight of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 5 which impel us to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
At the launch of the CARICOM Digital Skills Task Force, CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr. Barnett, also called attention to the need for strong collaboration across the public, private and civic society sectors towards transforming digital learning and skills delivery in ways that make it accessible and inclusive to all. We thus call all on stakeholders to hold one another accountable in carrying out the policies, programmes, and initiatives they have undertaken to ensure that girls can safely and meaningfully access, use, lead, and design technology and innovation. We call for even greater collaboration and investment in building intentional pathways for women and girls’ digital equality – pathways towards improved access to affordable connectivity, digital tools and flexible online learning, safer digital environments and women and girls’ full participation and leadership in shaping digital technologies.
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Agents including UNICEF, UN Women and ECLAC, through various channels, have also outlined and proposed numerous evidenced-based guidelines and actions for closing the gender gaps that affect girls, particularly where it concerns digital equality. These recommendations may be taken on board by Caribbean institutions to help steer the course towards advancing equality for the girl child.
They can be accessed here:
- COVID-19 catalyst –A gender-diverse digital reset (Generation Equality Forum 2021)
- EDUCATION ON HOLD: A generation of children in Latin America and the Caribbean are missing out on schooling because of COVID-19 (UNICEF 2020)
- Action Coalitions: Global Acceleration Plan (UN Women 2021)
- Policy Brief on “Selected Online Learning Experiences in the Caribbean during COVID-19” (UN ECLAC 2021).