Ministerial Roundtable: Advancing Women's Digital Opportunities

Women's economic empowerment is at the heart of the sustainable development debate and essential to achieve gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.

This Ministerial Roundtable will look at how digitalization can help empower women as entrepreneurs, traders, workers and professionals, and identify in which areas digital inequalities remain gender-biased, paying particular attention to the situation in developing and least developed countries. What policy action is needed to ensure that digitalization does not leave women behind.

Key issues that will be addressed include:

• An estimated 250 million more men than women are currently going online. At the same time, women are underrepresented in the ICT sector, especially in leadership positions. What can and should be done to address the gender digital divide?
• How can digital technologies be better leveraged to empower women entrepreneurs?
• ICT services are expanding and can provide well remunerated employment. How can the currently low share of women in this area be increased?
• What are the pros and cons for women workers to use digital labour platforms?
• How can the voice of women entrepreneurs be made stronger in policy processes influencing e-commerce and the digital economy in developing countries?

Chair: 
H.E. Mr Tudor Ulianovschi, President of the Trade and Development Board, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and former International Gender Champion

Opening remarks:
Ms. Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General, UNCTAD

Speakers: 
H.E. Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan, Minister of State of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan
H.E. Ms. Khoudia Mbaye, Ministre de la Promotion des Investissements, des Partenariats et du Développement des Téléservices de l'Etat, Senegal
H.E. Ms. Abigail Shonhiwa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development, Zimbabwe
H.E. Mr. U Aung Htoo, Deputy Minister, Ministry for Commerce, Myanmar
Ms. Daniela Zehentner-Capell, Head of Division, Trade Related Development Cooperation, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany
Mr. Teppo Tauriainen, Director-General for Trade, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden
Ms. Ana M. Guevara, Senior Trade Advisor, USAID, United States
Mr. Saifullah Khan, Managing Partner, S.U. Khan Associates Corporate & Legal Consultants
Ms. Anna Nesterova, Founder and Chairperson of the Board of Global Rus Trade
Mr. Cisse Kane, President, African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS)

Language(s): English; French; Spanish; Chinese; Russian; Arabic;

More information here