ECLAC Calls for Overcoming Gender Cyber ​​Violence and Digital Divide

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) called this Wednesday to overcome the digital gender gap, to encourage the participation of more women in science and technology and to eradicate gender cyberviolence, within the framework of the commemoration of the International Women’s Day.

As detailed by the agency, the use of the benefits of the Internet is unequal in Latin America, with 244 million of its inhabitants without Internet access.

“The differences in connectivity between urban and rural areas are especially alarming: while 68% of urban households in the region were connected to the internet in 2018, only 23% of households in rural areas had access,” ECLAC pointed out.

In this context, women experience more precarious conditions when they access the Internet, with an estimate that 4 out of 10 women in the region are not connected or they cannot afford effective connectivity, understood as Internet access, availability of devices and basic skills for their use.

“The cost of mobile and fixed broadband service for the population in the first income quintile in the region reaches an average of 14% and 12% of their income, respectively, which explains why a high percentage of this low-income population income does not have internet access. Given that in the region women are overrepresented in lower-income households, it results in there being more women in unconnected households”indicates an ECLAC document.

“At ECLAC we recognize the talent, strength and creativity of women and girls in the region. However, we note the structural persistence of gender inequality. The data is eloquent and calls us to action”, said the Executive Secretary of the regional organization of the United Nations, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

“This March 8 we make a double call. We call, on the one hand, to reduce the digital gender gap and guarantee the full participation of women in development and technological knowledge and, on the other, to move towards the care society, a development style that places equality and sustainability of life in the center and that no person is left behind”, emphasized.

In most of the countries of the region, the proportion of women graduated from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers does not exceed 40%. The most critical fields are engineering, industry and construction (with 30.8% participation of women in higher education enrollment in 2019) and information and communication technologies with 18% participation of women in higher education enrollment in 2019 .

Higher educational credentials for women also don’t translate into better jobs and pay once they enter the job market. Only 1 in 2 women participate in the labor market and women spend nearly three times as much time on unpaid care and domestic work as men (19.6% of their time versus 7.3%).

Women who remain in STEM careers are also relegated in scientific production and academia: on average, less than 30% of patents include at least one woman on the inventing team in the region and the participation of women in publications of physical and chemical sciences is 38%, a percentage that drops to 30% in the case of engineering.

From there, ECLAC urges the countries of the region to comply with the recently adopted agreements aimed at closing the digital gender gap and guaranteeing the full participation of women and girls in all their diversity in development and technological knowledge.

Source: EFE