Milagros Sáinz has been invited to contribute to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women by writing an Expert Paper under the title “How to address stereotypes and practices limiting access to STEM-related education for women and girls”. In this paper, the director of GenTIC tackles the state of play, key issues, and recommendations to overcome existing barriers and promote equal access to STEM-related fields for women and girls. This and other Expert Papers will be published and openly available soon.

 

In the framework of this contribution, Milagros Sáinz has participated as an invited speaker in the Expert Group Meeting held by UN Women on 10-13 October 2022. In the gathering, Sáinz presented a summary of her Expert Paper and discussed how to bridge the gender gap in digital access and skills, together with academic experts and representatives from UN entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from different regions of the world.

 

After a welcome introduction by Åsa Regnér, Deputy Executive Director for Policy, Programme, Civil Society and Intergovernmental Support of UN Women, the meeting started with an overview of key questions and areas for policy action to assess the gender dimension of digital inequalities by Alison Gillwald, Director of Research ICT Africa Network, and harnessing technology and innovation to achieve gender equality by Londa Schiebinger, Director of the Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering and Environment Project at Stanford University. A series of consecutive roundtable sessions facilitated a discussion of critical areas of concern and recommendations on topics such as addressing online and tech-facilitated gender-based violence and discrimination, fostering inclusive innovation ecosystems, and ensuring a gender-responsible digital transformation.

 

UN Women has convened this virtual expert group meeting to inform the preparations for the sixty-seventh session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women that will take place from 6 to 17 March 2023 on the priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

 

Take a look at the programme of the Expert Group Meeting here.

 

Photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash.