Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
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Commemoration of International Women’s Day on the theme of “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”
8 March 2023
[As delivered]
I see this room seldom so packed and so full of energy.
It is a clear indication of the noble goals that we are all celebrating and representing today.
Welcome to one of the most importance halls of deliberations in the world.
Welcome to all of you here.
Madam Executive Director,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to celebrate International Women’s Day and join your call for gender-inclusive innovation, digital education and technology.
These advances merit our full attention if we hope to achieve the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.
By 2050, 75% of jobs will be related to science, technology, engineering and math – STEM.
Yet today, women make up merely one third of the workforce in the 20 largest global technology companies.
And only 57% of women use internet.
These facts speak to the challenges before us.
They also speak to the massive opportunities offered by innovation and technology to rapidly transform the narrative for women and girls by 2030.
To state the obvious: we must intensify our efforts to achieve SDG 5 and to unshackle the underused potential of the half of humanity.
These are the two sides of the same coin.
If we progress on these twin tasks, we can solidify the groundwork for the SDG Summit in September.
As it stands, far too many women and girls still cannot access the opportunities offered by technology.
Here is a shocking discovery: Women and girls are 27 times more likely than men to face online harassment or hate speech.
Only 1 in 4 report it to authorities – and nearly 9 in 10 limit their online activity because of it, reinforcing the digital divide.
According to some evaluations, the exclusion of women from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the GDP of the low-and middle-income countries in the last decade.
Worse, if women and other marginalized groups are not given sufficient access to technology, we leave untapped vast additional capabilities to solve the many challenges that we are facing.
New technologies, if used well, offer a strong equalizing force to rapidly change this situation.
And today’s young entrepreneurs are not letting grass grow under their feet.
They are developing new apps – like Safecity – to protect women and girls from violence.
They are launching non-profits like Laboratoria that provide training and upskilling for women to launch their careers in technology.
To truly harness this potential, it is high time we had more investment to foster innovations which support female entrepreneurs in ICT and end the stereotypes that prevent girls from pursuing careers in STEM.
Let us close the gender gaps in these fields.
Let us allow women and girls to thrive fully – and safely – in the digital economy.
Many women shaping the transformative solutions are fed up with waiting and act on their own.
They are active role models for tomorrow’s young innovators.
As Cristina Junqueira – a founder of Brazil’s first digital bank – aptly said:
“I want my daughters to grow up in a world where they can dream of being whoever they want to be – and you can’t dream of what you can’t see.”
The international community has to catch up – and to support more of them.
As we approach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, I truly believe that science has a critical role to play in all our discussions at the United Nations.
Let us unleash the power of science to achieve gender equality and unlock the vast potential of women in innovation.
I cannot imagine a better investment than that.
I thank you.
