In remarks to the recent Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that gender equality is centuries away and called for worldwide efforts to empower women.
Take a moment and consider all the ways that technology has touched your life this day. Reading this entry on your device, for one. Perhaps you have also called a friend, checked a weather app or made a purchase. Digital devices, at their best, keep us safe and connected and informed. Now imagine not having access to the digital world. According to the United Nations, “259 million fewer women have access to the internet than men, even though they account for nearly half the world’s population.”
International Women’s Day is a day set aside each year to address challenges that are unique to women and girls. For 2021, U.N. Women has chosen the theme “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.” According to U.N. Women, this theme “celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
