International Women's Day - 8 March 2023

Date: 08 March 2023

Today, we recognize International Women’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate the accomplishments of women within politics, business, society, and digitalization, but it’s also the day to highlight the global work that remains to be done for gender equality.

 
The UN theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023 is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.

Today, there is a persistent gender gap within digitalization. Women’s lack of access to digital tools in many countries and the underrepresentation in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), careers and management demonstrate severe gender bias.

Digital gender inequality in a global perspective according to the UN:

• Women make up only 22% of artificial intelligence workers globally
• A global analysis of 133 AI systems across industries found that 44.2% demonstrate gender bias
• A survey of women journalists from 125 countries found that 73% had suffered online violence in the course of their work
• In Afghanistan, the Taliban has banned women from universities, and even for those with internet access, women have to accommodate “studying abroad” with frequent blackouts in electricity and internet connection – and the anxiety of studying, even within their homes.
• In Iran, young women have been using social media to speak up and challenge the regime’s patriarchal norms and express their demands for equality, using digital technology to try to connect, mobilize, and drive gender equality.
• During COVID-19 in Pakistan, women in rural areas were totally isolated from online access to reproductive health care. A new tech project, based on an AI-powered voice assistant using WhatsApp, led by young tech-educated women, has helped educate women on reproductive health issues in these areas.
• A network of young female equality activists from Turkey works hard to spread digital literacy in local communities to combat online gender-based violence. When the recent earthquakes devastated large parts of Turkey and Syria, these newly built online communities helped connect people.

What the Wrist organization does to leverage organizational gender equality and leverage our digital skills

Gender equality and the instant development of digital skills are important parts of our ESG strategy. We believe in removing the barriers and biases that hold people back, so that everyone gets a fair chance to achieve their potential.

The gender gap at managerial levels is falling but is still too big. Among managers, 70% are men, and 30% are women. We will work actively towards improving this ratio. As part of our social ESG goals for 2023, we will start mapping our digital skills to be able to complete at least one digital training event for each major location.

Over the coming years, we will continue developing female leaders and leverage our digital skills to build a more gender equal workplace for all.