Tema-Ghana, March 14, GNA – The UN Women has commemorated the 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD) with an indication that only 22 per cent of women make up the artificial intelligence workers globally.
An analysis of 133 AI systems across industries also found out that 44.2 per cent demonstrate gender bias.
The UN Women, in a document to commemorate the day obtained by Ghana News Agency, also disclosed that a survey of women journalists from 125 countries indicated that 73 per cent had suffered online violence in the course of their work.
The UN Women is the main gender organisation that deliver programmes, policies, and standards upholding women’s human rights, and ensure that every woman and girl live up to their full potential.
The 2023 IWD is being celebrated on the theme: “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.”
According to the UN Women, from the earliest days of computing to the present age of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, women had made untold contributions to the digital world in which we increasingly live.
“Their accomplishments have been against all odds, in a field that has historically neither welcomed nor appreciated them.
Today, a persistent gender gap in digital access keeps women from unlocking technology’s full potential,” it said.
The document noted that the underrepresentation of female in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and careers, remained a major barrier to their participation in tech design and governance.
Furthermore, the pervasive threat of online gender-based violence, coupled with a lack of legal recourse, too often forced them out of the digital spaces they do occupy, it said.
The UN Women indicated that digital technology was opening new doors for the global empowerment of women, girls and other marginalised groups.
“From gender-responsive digital learning to tech-facilitated sexual and reproductive healthcare, the digital age represents an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate all forms of disparity and inequality,” UN Women said.
It called on governments, activists, and the private sector alike to increase their efforts towards making the digital world safer, more inclusive and more equitable.
It also emphasised on the fact that facing a multiplicity of global crises, there was a chance to create a better future, not just for women and girls, but for all humanity and all life on Earth.
