ICC Advocates for Women Empowerment Through Technology

The annual UN High Level Political Forum wrapped up last week having measured progress and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the past two years. USCIB was on the ground during Agriculture and Food Day, which focused on Goal 2-Ending Hunger, as well as the UN SDG Business Forum, which focused on business support among all 17 SDG’s.  SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and calls for enhances use of enabling technology –information and communications technologies (ICT’s) in particular—to promote the empowerment of women.  For many women around the world, ICT’s can be leveraged for personal security, better access to education and jobs, financial inclusion and access to basic healthcare information. But benefits such as these rely on women having meaningful access to ICT which can be facilitated or prevented by several factors, including affordability, relevant content, skills and security.

To help turn commitment into action, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) partnered with UN Women – the global champion for gender equality – to host a side-event during the HLPF.  The event, Accelerating Women’s Economic Empowerment to Achieve the 2030 Agenda, showcased the global efforts stakeholders have embarked on to bring women’s economic empowerment to the forefront of all the SDG targets.

“Through innovation, investment and development of products and services, the private sector plays an important role in advancing gender equality and improving the lives of women,” said Barbara Wanner USCIB vice president for ICT Policy. ICC highlighted several private sector initiatives during the side-event that are catalyzing women’s economic empowerment in developed and developing countries and presented the role of ICT’s in advancing the SDG’s.

Participants included contributors to the UN Secretary General High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment and representatives from the governments of the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, UN Women, the International Labor Organization, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich, and Carolyn Nguyen of Microsoft who is also vice-chair of the ICC Commission on the Digital Economy.

For additional information on this event, please visit ICC’s website.

Staff Contact:   Barbara Wanner

VP, Digital Policy
Tel: 202.617.3155

Barbara Wanner directs USCIB’s work on information, communications and technology issues. She works with members and government officials on a wide range of international business issue that include advocating for the continuation of the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance and for policies aimed at promoting the stability, openness and innovative flexibility of the Internet. She represents USCIB members’ interests in several international forums, including the UN, APEC and the OECD.
Read More

Related Content