8 March

International Women's Day

International Women’s Day celebrates progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment

• In 1945, the United Nations Charter set out for the first time in an international agreement the principle of equality between women and men
• The United Nations celebrated its first International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975
• In December 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a United Nations Day for the Rights of Women and International Peace
• The first International Day is celebrated in the United States on 28 February 1909
  In 1917 in Russia, women chose to protest and strike to demand «Bread and Peace» on the last Sunday of February (March 8 according to the Gregorian calendar) eventually leading to the adoption of the right to vote for women in Russia

International Women’s Day 2023: “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”

Un women announcement international-womens-day-2023

© UN Trust Fund/Phil Borges

The United Nations Observance of IWD recognizes and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. IWD 2023 will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities.

Bringing women and other marginalized groups into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality. Their lack of inclusion, by contrast, comes with massive costs: as per UN Women's Gender Snapshot 202 report  women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade—a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action. Reversing this trend will require tackling the problem of online violence.

A gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology and digital education can increase the awareness of women and girls regarding their rights and civic engagement.

Advancements in digital technology offer immense opportunities to address development and humanitarian challenges, and to achieve the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals. Unfortunately, the opportunities of the digital revolution also present a risk of perpetuating existing patterns of gender inequality. The need for inclusive and transformative technology and digital education is therefore crucial for a sustainable future.

Global Gender Gap Report 2022

According to the GlobalGenderGapReport2022 gender parity is not recovering, it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap. As crises are compounding, women’s workforce outcomes are suffering and the risk of global gender parity backsliding further intensifies

Much of the progress made since the inception of the Global Gender Gap Index in 2006 was drastically reversed over the pandemic. The recovery towards gender parity has been insufficient in the face of a volatile context.

• Iceland tops the rankings and is the only economy to have closed more than 90% of its gap.
• COVID-19 set gender parity back by a generation and a weak recovery isn’t compensating for it
• The report suggests that of the 146 economies surveyed, just one in five has managed to close the gender gap by at least 1% in the past year. As a result, while gains have been made in the past year, they have reduced the time it will take to reach gender parity by only four years.
• “The cost of living crisis is impacting women disproportionately after the shock of labour market losses during the pandemic and the continued inadequacy of care infrastructure. In face of a weak recovery, government and business must make two sets of efforts:
• Targeted policies to support women’s return to the workforce
• And women’s talent development in the industries of the future. Otherwise, we risk eroding the gains of the last decades"
• Taking a longer view over 16 years, at the current rates of progress it will take 155 years to close the political empowerment gender gap.