Envisioning a Digital Feminist Space: The Role of Gender Equality in Technology and Innovation

Interactive Segment 

Zephanii Smith Eisenstat moderated the session that focused on creating the narrative around digital technology and gender equality and the role of youth, young feminists, and innovators in the digital space. In addition, the speakers spoke about establishing linkages between digital literacy and advocacy while discussing its complexities and intersections.  

 

Digital literacy  

Oscar Noel Fitzpatrick of ILGA World & the Global Queer Youth Network noted that digital literacy can refer to “one’s comfort level with technology, innovation and the digital space.” He shared that digital freedom centers on an individual's right to access and use digital platforms. Further, with the advent of smart technology, there is the need for ongoing comprehensive knowledge building and resource sharing among all digital natives, young people, and activists to become informed, digital citizens. He stressed that without this knowledge sharing, end users have the potential to give stakeholders the power to utilize their data and digital citizenship rights. One example of the true cost of platform interaction can be seen in the words used to describe participant’s opinions of digital spaces, while their experiences can be“overwhelming” and “endless”, the alternative of disconnection will isolate users who are otherwise geographically cut off from communities.   

 

Digital safety 

Dilanaz Güler, an Adolescent Leader for UN Women, called for a human approach to digital safety, Dilanaz shed light on how to build safe digitized feminist intersectional spaces in line with advocacy. For advocacy to work, one needs a safe space to learn and relearn concepts and beliefs without fear of reprisal, while admitting a level of discomfort that allows relearning to take place. She shared that virtual interactions and digital experiences have material reasons and consequences that must be considered as vital elements for effective safeguarding. Dilanaz acknowledged the complexities of digital safety and called for a multi stakeholder dialogue around digital safety to develop a consolidated approach to protecting digital citizens.  

 

Digital accountability  

Esther Mwema, a Generation Equality Action Coalition Youth Lead, and founder of Digital Grassroots, addressed issues of digital accountability. Describing digital accountability as “the transparency and accountability of the systems and algorithms to protect the user against any harmful or unethical effects in the digital environment,” she noted that the internet is a multistakeholder space and that all stakeholders have a role to play in ensuring it is safe for all. Accountability is not the mandate of just the government or technology companies, Esther noted, sharing that accountability starts with all digital citizens. She also urged participants to take cognizance of the various stakeholders within the digital environment who come in with different interests and perspectives with implications for digital safety and accountability. Just because they have digital rights and power does not mean they can use them without any responsibility. Overall, she called on young people to make their voices heard, influence the discourse, and shape accountability in the digital sphere.  

 

Reflections on challenges and opportunities to transform digital spaces 

Attendees were provided an opportunity to reflect on contemporary challenges and gaps in technology and innovation by discussing their lived realities in small groups. From the breakout rooms, each group was encouraged to develop a set of recommendations to bridge gaps currently faced by young people both within their regions and globally. Some of the gaps and challenges identified by the groups included:   

• The gender digital divide, recognizing that young women and girls using the internet are 57% compared to 62% of their male counterparts1 . 

• Accessibility issues, all of which can be considered as elements in “the digital divide”, including: 

  • Connectivity, with 9 out of 10 young individuals without internet access living in Africa or Asia and the Pacific2. 

  • Lack of technological devices, recognizing that in low- and middle-income countries, women are 26% less likely than men to own mobile devices3. 

  • Rural-urban divide, noting that a 39% internet access rate in the rural areas as against 76% in the urban4. 

• Financial constraints, recognizing that fixed broadband and mobile data basket prices at 4.4% of the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in the developing world as against a 1.2% in the developed world5. 

• Prioritization of company profit and personal interest versus the collective wellbeing of digital citizens.