Why digital skills training needs to be gender transformative

In the digital age, how do we ensure that women and girls get the digital skills they need to be part of the online world and an inclusive society?

During the pandemic, the move to online study and communication was unprecedented, with youth and adults needing to learn new digital skills, as well as adapting to hybrid ways of working, and communicating in different ways. Even before the pandemic, the need for digital skills training had led to a plethora of coding bootcamps, skills hackathons and other programs that sought to close the digital skills gap. However, these programs often did not address the social norms and gender stereotypes which cause many women and girls from using their newly gained skills.

Sadly, the stereotypes and norms associated with technology and STEM topics continues in different forms around the world – from the rhetoric that ‘girls aren’t smart enough to do math’ to ‘women should use technology after their male relatives’.? These conditions limit the potential, and narrow opportunities, for women and girls world-wide. In fact, the digital gender divide is one of the largest gender divides in the world today, and the impact is felt throughout society where women are excluded from employment and communities.

For this reason, I am so pleased that EY is a proud member of EQUALS, a global collaboration for gender equality in the digital age. The group of public and private sector organizations are dedicated to promoting gender balance in the technology sector by championing equal access, skills development and career opportunities for both women and men.

As part of that commitment, EY, GSMA, International Telecommunication Union and Women World Wide Web (W4) have created an initiative, Her Digital Skills, which aims to design and provide access to free, gender transformative digital skills training, e-skills badges and e-mentoring for 1 million women and girls by 2026. ?

Over the last 5 years through workshops, mentoring sessions and developing the online learning environments, the team has developed a unique approach that delivers technical skill development and actively changes social norms. After further review and research, this has been refined into the Towards a Gender Transformative Approach, part theory and part practical case examples. The framework is essential to creating pathways to close the digital divide and empowers a rising tide of women, families and communities to become digitally literate and participate more fully in society.

Excitingly, I am proud to share that the framework was launched publicly at the UN Commission of the Status of Women on 12 March. During the event, the masterminds behind the initiative discussed how the framework can be used by multiple stakeholders: civil society, national governments and ministries of education, public and privately funded educational institutions, and private sector companies with commitments to digital skills education.??

Congratulations to the women who have made this initiative possible:? Camilla Achutti, CEO of Mastertech and Chair of the W20 Brazil Women in STEM Taskforce; Angela Baker, Chief Sustainability Officer, Qualcomm; Tamara Dancheva, Senior Manager, International Relations, GSMA; and Lindsey Nefresh-Clarke, Founder and President, W4.org and my colleague, Michelle Settecase, EY Global Strategy and Insights Leader, Women. Fast forward program. ?

If that wasn’t enough, The W20 Brazil presidency is also including the framework in its policy recommendations to help governments link the economic benefits of a skilled workforce with enhanced learning and development programs. In addition, multinational organizations can also use these guidelines to improve corporate responsibility and internal training efforts to increase recruitment and retention of talent, while civil society organizations are using these techniques to improve the long-term effectiveness of their programming, keeping girls and young women engaged in digital and technology fields after their training is completed. ?

This is truly a fantastic move in the right direction to equitable education for all, one of the key pillars of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. I look forward to seeing how we can all work together to close the digital gender divide and create a more equitable educational environment for the future.