New York (Union)
Yesterday, the UAE stressed the importance of innovation, technology and education in the digital age to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls for a better future around the world, calling for increasing education and work opportunities for women and enabling them to play a leading role in the fields of technology and innovation.
And the UAE said, in a statement it made before the sixty-seventh session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which was delivered by Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of State: “We are all aware of the important role that digital technology plays in our world today, especially in terms of improving the quality of life for societies and developing various vital fields and sectors.
She added, “As we continue our endeavor to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, technology and innovation will have a more important role in building our common future, especially in the social, political and economic fields, which requires ensuring the integration of women’s perspective into these existing links between technology and development, to ensure its sustainability.”
And Her Excellency Noura Al-Kaabi continued: From this standpoint, the UAE continues, and thanks to the continuous support of the Mother of the Emirates, Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, to empower women in the field of technology and ensure their access to equal opportunities, calling for increasing educational and work opportunities for women and enabling them to play a leadership role in areas of technology and innovation.
She noted that during the Covid pandemic, we witnessed how digital technology contributed to providing access to education and jobs without interruption, and the UAE’s experience during the pandemic was effective in terms of expanding distance education curricula and making them available to all, as we launched many digital educational initiatives and platforms, including our recent launch. The Global Academy for Digital Educators, the first comprehensive digital school that provides distance education with flexible and smart means, with 55% of female students.
Her Excellency the Minister said: “The UAE is keen to empower women in the fields of science, as the percentage of female students in STEM universities in the country is 61%, and we are also working to provide equal job opportunities for women after their graduation.”
She stressed the need to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital age to enhance women’s participation in the political field, as technology can bring about tangible changes in the areas of peacebuilding and women’s participation in peace processes, by providing tools that contribute to strengthening cooperation between societies, and changing the stereotype about women. and allow them to express their views and concerns.
She pointed out that the UAE launched the “Virtual Reality Technology” initiative to allow everyone to attend the sessions of the Federal National Council, in which the percentage of women’s representation reached 50%.
And she stressed the need to ensure the participation of women and girls in preparing for the future with its challenges and opportunities, whether in terms of addressing climate change or exploring outer space, explaining the UAE’s keenness that women and girls have equal opportunities in obtaining technology used in these fields.
Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabi said: “The participation of women in the Emirates Mars Exploration Project reached thirty-four percent, and they constituted eighty percent of the scientific team of the probe, which gave women the opportunity to participate in decision-making and contribute to the development of technology in this sector.”
She added: “During our preparations to host the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, we continue to stress the importance of including a woman’s perspective in all our relevant discussions, as we have made sure that women make up two-thirds of the leadership team of the conference, and that they represent more than fifty percent of the team.” Administration, with the aim of ensuring the application of a comprehensive and sustainable approach that promotes gender equality.
She stressed that bridging the gender digital divide requires a global partnership, to ensure that the largest possible number of desired results are achieved, and thus ensure that women and girls have equal access to information and communication technology at a low cost.
At the end of the statement, she said: “The time has come to intensify our efforts in this regard, and to work in full swing to bridge these gaps, and the UAE will continue to work with member states to advance women and enhance equal access to digital technologies to ensure a better future for women and girls around the world.”