Researchers from different backgrounds and genders at a project meeting in Guimarães, Portugal, during a conference. Credit: UNU-EGOV / Cristina Braga
By Mercy Erhi Makpor
Guimarães, Portugal, Mar 7 2023 (IPS)
The accelerating pace of digitalization has ushered humanity into a whole different era of information and communication. Today, digitalization permeates every aspect of our lives, socio-economically and politically.
People can leverage digital technology to scale up activities to impact their private and public lives. Citizens can access various digital services such as registrations, voting, conducting business and making online transactions, amongst others. Changes have seen digital technologies thrive.
However, this has come with little or no impact on gender, especially on women and girls. Thus, how is gender equality promoted amid this fast pace of digitalization, and how has this impacted digitalization?
There is a great gap in women’s and girls’ adoption of digital technology compared to men’s and boys’. It has been reported that more than 50% of women are offline globally. In the Global South, this is more pronounced as the internet penetration rate for women is 41%, compared to 53% for men.
In 2020, it was found that 393 million women in developing regions do not own mobile phones when compared to 8% globally.
Mercy Erhi Makpor. Credit: UNU-EGOV / Cristina Braga
There are also substantial regional differences, especially in the sub-Sahara and South Asia regions, with gender gaps in ownership of digital devices falling as low as 13% and 23%, respectively. Invariably, women are more likely than men to share or borrow digital devices from friends and family members.Some studies show that women are 20% less likely than men to own a digital device. Depending on the ability to access, use and adopt digital technology, digitalization will keep increasing in speed.
More so, as digital technology is proactively embraced, it is essential to facilitate skills, access, affordability, and usage for women and girls. Associated policies for facilitating these processes should propel or bring about change for gender equality and inclusion.
Digital technology can indeed be a concrete tool for the development of policies and programs for women and girls to overcome inequalities. Digitalization can also help to speed up gender policy interventions while at the same time bridging the gender digital divide.
This can be achieved by engaging more women and girls in sectors such as health, education, technology, services, etc. However, in the absence of indicators differentiated by gender, it is difficult to measure impact.
More so, without indicators such as age, income level, and literacy, there is always bound to be little or no impact. Gender equality remains one of the fundamental means of curbing the gender digital divide while digitalization is taking place. It is very significant to the progress of women and girls in a digitalized society.
Currently, taking up initiatives for the promotion of gender equality is one of the ways through which countries strive to close the gender digital divide amid digitalization. For instance, there is a strong call for promoting an educational and knowledge infrastructure scheme in remote rural areas in the Global South.
Countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal are taking the initiative to improve the skills level and usage of women for the reduction of the gender digital divide. For women with small- and medium-scale enterprises, having proper access to financial products and services is of great importance.
Governments and financial institutions are seen to be taking up initiatives to help accelerate access for female entrepreneurs and business owners to tap into financial resources, which in turn leads to a reduction in the digital gender divide and the promotion of gender equality.
Furthermore, women play very vital roles in their families and communities, as they traditionally are the incubators of small start-up businesses. This also promotes gender equality while presenting the possibility of accelerating women’s participation in digital technology, thereby reducing the gender digital divide.
For instance, In Europe and North America, scholars and institutions are calling on policymakers to address the need for the continuous improvement of digitalization and skills for women through innovative technical ideas.
As a functional tool for attaining sustainable development, digitalization is not only central to modern societies; it is a means to unlocking opportunities for social interactions. More so, it is an opportunity for the promotion of gender equality and the reduction of the gender digital divide.
However, due to it not being gender-neutral, gender dimensions that impact women and men must be considered when addressing the gender digital divide. Significantly, access, ownership, and use of digital devices are not gender-neutral; therefore, women tend to face more barriers than men in the accessibility and use of digital technology.
There have to be better opportunities for women to be able to access and take advantage of both socioeconomic and political positions. Also, access to digital devices will help to increase women’s online activities, thereby reducing the gender digital divide and promoting gender equality.
Notably, women must play active roles, get involved, and through gender experts and women’s organizations, come up with policies and service designs to enhance women’s needs, inclusion, and empowerment.
Governments must ensure that the privacy and security of women and girls are protected. They should also safeguard enhanced, affordable, and inclusive service delivery for women, especially those in rural environments.
In summary, engendering digital technology by adopting digitalization policies with gender perspectives is significant not only to women but also to the whole of human development.
Mercy Erhi Makpor is Senior Research Assistant at the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV).
Email: makpor@unu.edu
More info: https://egov.unu.edu/experts/mercy-makpor.html
IPS UN Bureau
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The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.Women hold a vital stake in the health of the land, yet they often don't have control over it. Securing women's land rights can help advance the intertwined global goals on gender equality and land restoration. Credit: United Nations
By Andrea Meza
BONN, Mar 7 2023 (IPS)
When it comes to land, gender inequalities are pervasive. Today, nearly half of the global agricultural workforce is female – yet less than one in five landholders worldwide are women 1.
Women’s land rights are essential for their economic empowerment and the sustainable development of rural communities. However, women continue to face significant barriers to accessing and controlling land resources, which limits their ability to participate fully in agricultural production, improve their livelihoods, and contribute to broader economic growth.
Moreover, the lack of access to land and other productive resources adversely impacts on women’s enjoyment of human rights.
According to a landmark study by UNCCD, gender equality remains unfinished business in every part of the world. For instance, in more than 100 countries today, women cannot inherit their husband’s property under customary, religious, or traditional laws and practices.
Andrea Meza Murillo
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some women tragically lost not only their spouses but also access to their land. Even in countries where women have the same legal rights as men to own and access land – as is the case in Costa Rica – only 15.6% of farm ownership is currently in the hands of women. In the Middle East and North Africa region, just 4% of women hold land titles.Discrimination related to land tenure, credit access, equal pay and decision making often keeps women from playing an active role in sustaining land health. When they do have property rights, women often own smaller plots, and less fertile lands, compared to male landowners.
And when land becomes degraded and water is scarce, rural women are usually the worst affected, often skipping meals in favour of other family members.
Globally, women already spend a collective 200 million hours every day collecting water. In some countries, a single trip to fetch water can take over an hour. Droughts make the situation even harder—they tend to increase the burden of unpaid care and domestic work shouldered by women and girls.
But women are not only on the frontline of climate change and land degradation impacts; they can also be major actors in the global efforts to restore the land back to health and boost drought resilience.
Evidence shows that when women and men have equal land tenure rights, women are more likely to invest in soil conservation and sustainable land management practices. For example, in Ethiopia, land certification and registration undertaken in the early 2000s increased tenure security for women and men and boosted landowners’ likelihood of investing in soil and water conservation measures by 20-30%.
Gender equality is vital to deliver sustainable, progressive, and meaningful action to advance sustainable land stewardship. The recognition of women’s land and resource rights will accelerate land restoration efforts by opening doors to markets and finance, training and other services, and gender-appropriate sustainable land management tools and technologies.
It will also enable women to step up their contribution to the achievement of climate and biodiversity goals, keeping global temperature increase to 1.5°C and restoring at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
Already, women worldwide use traditional knowledge and innovative solutions to address desertification, land degradation and drought. In India, irrigation systems developed by women farmers rely on rainwater harvesting. In Jordan, a plant nursery entirely run by women using state-of-the-art methodologies and protocols is producing high-quality native seedlings for land restoration.
The UNCCD has a long track record in placing gender equality firmly at the core of its mandate as a vital catalyst of progress. Gender-responsive land restoration is an obvious pathway to reduce poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.
When women are empowered to have a say in decision-making on land matters, entire communities and societies benefit, and these benefits can be passed on to future generations.
We must urgently change the way both women and land are treated. We must invest more in women as the custodians of healthy land and thriving communities. It’s time for women and girls to be at the forefront of land restoration efforts.
For this, governments must take action to assess and reform legal and regulatory frameworks, promote gender-responsive policies and public services, and support successful programmes that promote women’s rights to land and resources.
Ending discrimination against women in their access to, use of, and control over land and other resources is crucial. In doing so, we can create a more just and sustainable world for all.
Andrea Meza Murillo is Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Prior to joining the Convention, she served as Minister of Energy and Environment for the Government of Costa Rica. She brings over 20 years of expertise in sustainable development, having worked in more than 15 Latin American countries to formulate public policies, participate in international negotiations, and execute climate, conservation and restoration projects.
IPS UN Bureau
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The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.A Zöldek politikusa a Berlin melletti Meseberg kastélyban – a szövetségi kormány vendégházában – tartott kétnapos kihelyezett kormányülést záró tájékoztatón felidézte, hogy 2022 elején Németország még 55 százalékban orosz forrásból fedezte a földgázszükségletét.
Alig egy év elteltével ez a függőség teljesen megszűnt, legfeljebb a cseppfolyósított földgázt (LNG) fogadó külföldi terminálokról Németországba továbbított földgázban lehet némi „orosz molekula”, és német vállalatok már egyáltalán nem vásárolnak orosz gázt – mondta.
A váltást azért kellett végrehajtani, mert az Ukrajna ellen háborúzó orosz elnök, Vlagyimir Putyin a kínálat „mesterséges szűkítésével” rákényszerítette az országot – tette hozzá az alkancellár.
Az orosz szállítások elmaradása miatt súlyos gondoktól, ellátási nehézségektől kellett tartani, de mindezt sikerült elhárítani, ami „gigantikus teljesítmény” – fogalmazott Habeck.
Mint mondta, a válságot nem csupán új beszerzési források bevonásával és az infrastruktúra bővítésével, az ország első három LNG-termináljának felépítése révén sikerült elkerülni, hanem a háztartások és a vállalatok szolidaritása is kellett hozzá.
A függetlenség „árát mindenki megfizeti”, ez mutatkozik meg a magas inflációban és az energia drágulásában is, de a következő fűtési szezonra már nyugodtabban lehet készülni. A tárolók ugyanis az egy évvel korábbi húsz százalék körüli szinttel szemben 60 százalék körüli töltöttséggel zárják a telet, és lehetségesnek látszik, hogy újabb nagymértékű áremelkedés nélkül töltsék fel őket – fejtette ki a miniszter, rámutatva, hogy a földgáz világpiaci ára a megawattóránkénti 50 euró körüli, vagyis az Ukrajna elleni orosz háború előtti szintre süllyedt.
A mintegy 23 milliárd köbméter kapacitású – az EU gáztároló kapacitásának negyedét kitevő – németországi földgáztárolók üzemeltetőinek szakmai szervezete (Initiative Energien Speichern – INES) már egy februári állásfoglalásában is jelezte, hogy a vezetékes orosz gáz kiesése ellenére egyre valószínűbb, hogy a következő télen sem lesznek ellátási gondok, és október elejére ismét sikerül elérni a 100 százalékos töltöttségi szintet.
Moszkva az Ukrajna elleni háború 2022 februári kezdete óta fokozatosan visszafogta, majd beszüntette a Németországba irányuló exportot, annak ellenére, hogy a háború miatt Oroszországgal szemben bevezetett európai uniós büntetőintézkedések nem érintik a földgázkereskedelmet.
Az Oroszországot Németországgal közvetlenül összekötő Északi Áramlat-1 vezeték augusztus végi leállításával 2022 szeptembere volt az első hónap az oroszországi import kezdete, 1972 óta, amikor nem érkezett Németországba földgáz közvetlenül Oroszországból.
A kormányzati adatok szerint az orosz import kiesését sikerül ellensúlyozni a diverzifikációval, új beszerzési források bevonásával. Az első számú importpartner – azaz Oroszország – helyére Norvégia lépett, és felépítették az LNG fogadására alkalmas első három tengeri terminált.
Mind a három úgynevezett úszó terminál, amelyek legfőbb eleme egy különleges hajó, hivatalos elnevezéssel úszó tároló és visszagázosító szerelvény (floating storage and regasification unit – FSRU). Ezen a hajón alakítják gázhalmazállapotúvá a tartályhajókon érkező LNG-t, hogy betáplálhassák a szárazföldi vezetékrendszerbe.
A berlini vezetés tervei szerint három tengerparti LNG-terminált is építenek majd. Ezek a beruházások legkorábban 2025-ben vagy 2026-ban készülhetnek el. A szövetségi kormány 2022 tavaszán, röviddel az Ukrajna elleni orosz támadás után határozta el az LNG-terminálok fejlesztését, hogy felszámolja Németország függőségét az orosz földgázimporttól.
The post Németország függetlenné vált az orosz földgáztól appeared first on .
Written by Ionel Zamfir.
Progress on gender equality at riskInternational Women’s Day is a good opportunity to take stock of progress achieved on gender equality and women rights. This year however, global indicators do not provide much reason to celebrate. Where not completely stalled by the COVID‑19 pandemic, progress has been slim, and the new economic challenges caused by the conflict in Europe present another formidable obstacle.
Only in the area where disparity between men and women is the greatest – power – has some progress been seen. The 2022 Gender Equality Index, published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), found that, due to the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic, gender equality in the European Union would have regressed without the gains made in the power domain, and particularly in economic decision-making. Nevertheless, there were also exceptions: the power equality index fell compared to pre-pandemic levels in Estonia and Romania. On the other hand, gender equality at work and in knowledge stagnated or regressed in most EU countries.
Note: the gender equality index in the area of political power looks at the representation of women and men as members of parliament (both houses), members of government (senior and junior ministers), and members of regional/local assemblies.The situation is by no means better at global level. The 2022 Global Gender Gap report published by the World Economic Forum (a global think tank) warns that progress on gender equality globally has stalled because of ‘the economic and social consequences of the pandemic and geopolitical conflict’, and could even go into reverse.
Greater participation of women in economic and political life has multiple benefits. For example, in the digital sector and economy – the focus of this year’s session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women – data show that the women’s participation in scientific and technological sectors in Europe remains low. Only one in five information and communication technology (ICT) specialists and one in three science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM) graduates are women. The drop-out rate from digital careers among 30‑44 year old women working in the digital sector is higher than that among men. This is likely related to motherhood and caregiving responsibilities. In addition, a significant gender salary gap in the ICT sector persists. Recruiting more women in the technology sector could be pivotal in closing the talent gap (where the ICT sector faces an unprecedented shortage of ICT professionals). The European Institute for Gender Equality stresses that closing the gender gap in STEM careers would help increase EU per capita GDP by 2.2‑3.0 % by 2050.
In the political area, several Member States still lag behind on women’s participation despite its multiple benefits: lending legitimacy to governing institutions and better representing women’s experience, interests and needs. This is all the more important as the current cost of living crisis affects women more severely. On the other hand, new obstacles have emerged. The political backlash against women rights has continued and intensified. Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights have come under renewed attack, across the world as well as in the EU. In Poland, which has adopted a draconian anti-abortion law, defenders of women’s reproductive rights such as Justyna Wydrzyńska have faced judicial harassment.
Women in the shadow of warIn Europe, war has reminded the public of the horrific effects it can have on women in conflict areas, as well as of the need for international justice to hold those responsible for such crimes accountable. Women are among the most badly affected by the conflict in Ukraine, whether as victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, or because of the consequences of war, exposing them to food and energy deprivation, health risks, job losses, and an increased burden of care in the absence of men sent to the frontline. However, Ukrainian women have shown their courage and resilience in the face of adversity: many have been active in the army or have provided relief to those affected by the war. They have led civil society initiatives to reform their country and prepare it for EU membership, although their representation of women in Ukrainian politics remains low.
Elsewhere in Europe, the current generation of women leaders (such as Heads of State or Government in Estonia, Finland, Italy or Moldova, the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, or the Foreign Minister in Germany, for instance), has reacted to the Russian aggression in Ukraine with strong determination and commitment to the respect of international principles.
The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on women all over the world. According to a report by United Nations Women, Global Gendered Impacts of the Ukraine Crisis, it has aggravated food insecurity in developing countries (already more severe for women than men), and has exposed women to increased health risks due to the energy crisis.
The cost of living crisis in Europe: impact on womenIn the European Union, the ongoing cost of living crisis has added another layer to the negative effects of the pandemic on gender inequality. Energy and food prices have spiked, driven by the serious risk of shortages on the EU and world markets. While shortages have not yet materialised, inflation looks set to persist and, as a result, ever more people are coming under increased financial pressure and at greater risk of energy poverty – particularly women.
Existing statistical data provides an albeit incomplete picture of the distinct ways in which rising energy prices affect men and women. The graph below, based on Eurostat data, shows that households with children headed by a single adult have been hardest hit by rising energy prices. Their share under all three dimensions (arrears on utility bills, capacity to keep the home warm, and living in buildings with leaks or rotten window frames) analysed in the graph is higher in almost all cases than for the average household category. Based on Eurostat statistics from 2021, women make up 83 % of single-parent households and are therefore the most likely to be affected by the energy crisis. A Eurofound survey from the spring of 2022 confirmed these trends. It found that the share of women who were late in paying their energy bills surged in the spring of 2022, and that single women and single mothers were more likely than other groups to struggle to pay their energy bills.
Existing inequalities among men and women compound vulnerability to energy poverty, particularly those related to income, such as the gender pay gap, the gender pension gap, and women’s more limited possibilities to work compared to men because of their disproportionate burden of care for children and other close relatives. Women are over-represented in relatively low-paying sectors, such as care, health and education, and in part-time work, and therefore more vulnerable to the energy crisis, which has had a severe impact on those with a low income.
Eurostat indicators related to energy poverty in the EU (2020-2021)Sources:
Age too plays a role in women’s vulnerability to energy poverty. With women in the EU living longer than men (an age gap that in some EU Member States reaches up to 10 years), and often receiving lower pensions, they are at an increased risk of energy poverty. Age also makes people particularly sensitive to cold and exposes them to increased health risks.
While the energy crisis has put a strain on ordinary citizens, particularly those most vulnerable, energy companies have made record profits. Against this background, data from the International Energy Agency demonstrates that the energy sector has historically been and continues to be male-dominated. As of 2018, there were 76 % fewer women than men working in the energy sector (in 29, mostly EU, countries investigated) and the average gender wage gap conditional on skills was -15 %.
In line with the obligation imposed by EU legislation to protect vulnerable energy consumers, EU countries have tried to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices on the general population, and in certain cases specifically on the most vulnerable persons, mainly through reduced tariffs and cash benefits. A more comprehensive approach – one that goes beyond the measures taken to alleviate the direct impact of rising energy prices on women – necessarily entails tackling structural inequalities, particularly in income, between women and men. EU action has historically made a difference in this important area. Equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value between men and women, has been a right in the EU since 1957. Yet, implementation and enforcement of the equal pay for equal work principle remain a challenge The painful truth is … women in the European Union are paid on average 13 % less than men (Eurostat, 2020), which equals more than one month’s salary. One concern is that, because of a lack of pay transparency, pay discrimination often goes undetected, and victims face difficulties in obtaining redress. The adoption of the proposed EU pay transparency directive (which is presently going through the legislative procedure, with the Parliament and the Council having reached agreement in December 2022), could be an important step in closing the gender pay gap.
European Parliament positionIn its resolution of 5 July 2022 on women’s poverty in Europe, the European Parliament underlined that women’s poverty increases the risk of energy poverty, among other risks, and that policy measures tailored specifically to single parents are needed. It further stressed ‘that access to affordable utilities must be guaranteed to low-income households, and in particular older women and single mothers’. In its 2021 opinion on the proposed directive on energy efficiency, Parliament’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee (FEMM) called on Member States to adopt specific measures to support women, combat the feminisation of energy poverty and include all citizens in the green transition.
With regard to women directly affect by the war in Ukraine, in a 5 May 2022 resolution on the impact of the war on women, the Parliament strongly condemned the use of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of war, stressing that it is a war crime.
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