The Vienna Discussion Forum is an annual event to discuss gender equality and the empowerment of women in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are fundamentally changing the way we live, work and interact with each other. Digital environments and new technologies bring many benefits in terms of access and opportunities in people’s everyday lives, allowing to harness these converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, sustainable and gender-equal future.
Nevertheless, deeply rooted structural and cultural gender inequalities prevent women and girls from having equal access to digital infrastructures, devices and services. Moreover, digital environments and new technologies bring new challenges, where women are being disproportionately targeted by various forms of online abuse, and difficulties remain in the persecution of perpetrators of such crimes.
Against this background, the 2021 Vienna Discussion Forum will focus on the importance of gender-responsive digitalization to ensure that inequalities are not reinforced in the process of technological development and digital transformation. By drawing on the mandates of UNODC and UNIDO, the discussion will identify how these Organizations can support gender-inclusive and safe technological change.
Speakers
High-level opening
● Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs and Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology
● Karin Strandås, State Secretary to Minister for Gender Equality, Sweden
● Ghada Fathi Waly, Director General/Executive Director of UNOV/UNODC
● LI Yong, Director General, UNIDO
Panel discussion
● Marco Kamiya, Chief, Innovation and Digitalization Division, UNIDO
● Patsilí Toledo Vásquez, Adjunct Professor of Gender and Criminal Justice System, Pompeu Fabra University
● Katja Toropainen, Founder, Inklusiiv
● Neil Walsh, Chief of the Cybercrime and Anti-Money Laundering Section, UNODC
● Johann Yoon, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Plan International Norway
Moderator
● H.E. Belén Sapag Muñoz de la Peña, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations in Vienna
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