Capturing the “digital dividend” for a more gender inclusive world

International Women’s Day celebrated globally on 8 March provides an occasion to reflect on the progress made towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, and its crucial role in the 2030 Agenda. This year’s theme “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” highlights global efforts in gender mainstreaming that, if taken with due responsibility, go hand-in-hand with measures to tackle climate change. For its part, UNIDO is committed to implementing programmes that support women on their paths towards becoming impact-oriented leaders and change-makers, as the cyber realm continues to proliferate adding to existing challenges posed by climate change.

Placing a major focus on reducing gender inequalities driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), UNIDO supports initiatives in business innovation and entrepreneurship, digitalization for inclusive education, gender-responsive investment, digital marketing and business networking skills. These include the recently launched “Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Training Programme” that helps integrate gender analysis into investment projects to harness women’s full leadership potential. Promoting collective branding and market access through application of digital tools, UNIDO’s projects have been supporting women entrepreneurs in STEM, origin-linked food sectors, light industries, sustainable fashion and traditional handicraft sector, helping ensure business continuity, job creation, income generation and poverty mitigation in the times of crisis and beyond.

On a larger scale, this work contributes to a more data-oriented, science-based and knowledge-intensive development, where UNIDO contributes to the emergence of a more inclusive digital ecosystem allowing wider access to relevant skills and jobs, as well as participation in policy- and decision-making, particularly for women who often find themselves at the margins of such discussions.

For more information contact Farrukh Alimdjanov (F.Alimdjanov [at] unido.org (F[dot]Alimdjanov[at]unido[dot]org)), Fabio Russo (F.Russo [at] unido.org (F[dot]Russo[at]unido[dot]org)), Jessica Neumann (J.Neumann [at] unido.org (J[dot]Neumann[at]unido[dot]org)), Ebe Muschialli (E.Muschialli [at] unido.org (E[dot]Muschialli[at]unido[dot]org)).