On the 17 of March 2013, Commissioners at the 7th Meeting of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development adopted a gender target on access to information and communication technologies (ICT). A new Task Group on the post 2015 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be led by Ericsson, was also launched by the Commission.
During its meeting in Mexico City from the 16/17th of March, the Commission set a target to ensure gender equality in broadband access by 2020, in light of the global gender gap affecting access to ICT’s, which stands at 25% globally, and rises to 45% in Sub Saharan Africa according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
For Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, a “lack of equal opportunity for women and girls to access [ICT] technologies risks thwarting development progress”. According to her, closing the gender gap in ICT access would help empower women and girls, helping to achieve inclusive, sustainable development. The ITU Secretary Gteneral, Hamadoun Touré added that “women’s access to ICTs and particularly broadband must be made a key pillar of the post-2015 global development agenda.”
Read more at Post2015.org- what comes after the MDGs?
