Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 21, 2021 (ECA) – The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), UN Women, and eWorldwide Group, will on Thursday April 22 host a webinar which seeks to build awareness about the gender digital divide on the continent and encourage more girls and young women to actively pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The webinar, organized to mark International Girls in ICT Day, will be held under the theme; Connected African Girls, Creating Brighter Futures. It will facilitate discussions among policymakers and stakeholders to address the fundamental, cross-cutting, and complex impact of digitalization in empowering girls and young women to actively become computer programmers, creators, and designers, placing them on track to take up studies and careers in the ICT sector.
Specifically, the ECA will launch during the webinar its web e-learning platform, the “Learning Girls in ICT initiative”.
“The e-learning platform will provide the necessary technology education and skills to young women and girls to promote Africa's integration, generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation, break the digital divide, and eradicate poverty for the continent’s socio-economic development and ensure Africa’s ownership of modern tools of digital management,” says Mactar Seck of the ECA’s Technology, Climate Change, Natural Resources Division (TCND).
He said the webinar will help enhance technology education and skills capacities of Africa’s girls and young women, and strengthen dialogue among African policymakers, stakeholders, and development partners to bridge the gender digital divide in Africa and promote greater equality and inclusion.
With the lowest rate of Internet penetration, the African region has the widest digital gender gap in the world with only 22.5 per cent of women using the Internet, compared with 33.8 per cent of men.
The proportion of females to males who graduate with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics related degrees is significantly smaller on the continent and the ECA and its partners are working hard to bridge the gap by building awareness about the gender digital divide, supporting technology education and skills training, and encouraging more girls and young women to actively pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
To join the webinar which starts from 1330 - 1500 (EAT), Ethiopia time (EAT) via Zoom, please register on the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lbr0uVlMQPyagTER8iS8xQ
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org