As the world prepares for the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) to take place in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025, a crucial contribution from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is helping shape the conversation about gender equality in our digital age. A series of papers authored by members of an expert group convened by UN Women will inform the drafting of political recommendations at the upcoming CSW69. Hija Kamran, who coordinates APC Women's Rights Programme content and is the editor of GenderIT.org, participated in the UN Women's Expert Group Meeting in August 2024 and contributed a paper titled “Charting the Future: Revisiting Beijing's Commitments in the Digital Era” This is a significant contribution to this process, as it offers vital insights into how we must adapt our approach to gender equality for today's technological landscape.
Progress – and shortcomings
The present timing is critical: as we approach the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark commitment to advancing gender equality around the world, Kamran's paper highlights crucial gaps between the promises made in 1995 and the digital realities of 2024 (and into 2025).
According to the Digital Watch Observatory, almost 68% of the world's population is connected to the internet, and this number is only growing. Yet, this digital revolution has not created a level playing field, but instead often amplifies existing inequalities and creates new forms of gender-based discrimination and violence. Kamran's paper highlights the persistent digital gender gap in low- and middle-income countries: women are 15% less likely than men to use mobile phones, translating to 265 million fewer women accessing the internet compared to men. In South Asia, the situation is even more dramatic, with 31% of women (285 million) remaining disconnected from the internet. This is not only about access to technology: it concerns access to education, economic opportunities, healthcare information, and public participation in an increasingly digital world.
New challenges in the digital age
The Beijing Declaration remains one of the few human rights instruments that governments worldwide still actively follow and report on. However, as Kamran points out, this historic document was crafted in a pre-internet era. While its fundamental principles remain valid, the declaration needs to address the profound ways in which technology has transformed how we live, work and interact. Kamran's paper identifies several critical challenges on the path to gender equality and justice that were not imaginable when the Beijing Declaration was first written:
- Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV): Online spaces have become new battlegrounds for gender-based violence. From cyberstalking to digital harassment, women and gender-diverse individuals face persistent threats that can have severe real-world consequences.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) concerns: The rise of AI has introduced new threats, particularly through deep fakes and synthetic media; these technologies are increasingly being weaponised to create non-consensual intimate content, spread disinformation, and harass women online.
- State surveillance: Advanced surveillance technologies are being used to monitor and control women's activities, particularly targeting journalists and activists, which creates a chilling effect on freedom of expression and public participation.
- Patriarchal control: Traditional gender roles and power dynamics have evolved into digital gatekeeping, with family members often controlling women's and girls’ access to technology and the internet.
Solutions to move forward
Kamran's paper also presents concrete recommendations for addressing these challenges:
- Adoption of an updated feminist approach: Technology development and policy must be viewed through a feminist lens that considers the diverse experiences of women in all their diversity, particularly from the Global South.
- Strengthening of legal frameworks: States must update their laws to address online harassment and TFGBV while ensuring these laws don't inadvertently restrict rights.
- Increasing accountability: Both governments and technology stakeholders, including corporations, must be held accountable for protecting users' rights and preventing online violence.
- Investing in infrastructure: Governments must prioritise digital infrastructure development to ensure all women have access to reliable internet connectivity and devices.
- Supporting civil society: Local, national and regional organisations working on gender, technology and digital rights need sustained support to continue their crucial work and to keep focus on agendas that reflect concerns grounded in the experience and needs of women, amplifying voices and promoting social justice.
Toward CSW69: No gender justice without digital justice
As this expert paper feeds into the CSW69 discussions, it provides a useful framework to review and update how we think about gender equality in the digital age. These recommendations will help inform political discussions and could contribute toward concrete commitments from member states to address these emerging challenges. In this sense, this paper is especially important because it offers a path to bridge the gap between the foundational principles of the Beijing Declaration and the realities of our digital present and future; as Kamran notes, we can't achieve gender justice without digital justice, and we can't separate our online and offline lives anymore – they're increasingly intertwined.
The road ahead requires collaboration between governments, civil society organisations, technology companies and communities to create a digital world that truly works for the benefit of everyone, including women and girls in all their diversity. As we approach CSW69, this contribution from APC reminds us that while technology can amplify existing inequalities, it can also be a powerful tool for advancing gender equality – if we get the policies and frameworks right. The challenge now is to ensure that these insights translate into meaningful action at both national and international levels.
Francia Baltazar is originally from Tijuana, Baja California. She holds a master’s degree in Political Biopsychology and Public Policy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). She specialises in applied behavioural science. She has worked as a consultant, analyst and researcher in various sectors, designing and implementing strategies for social impact, commercial expansion and communication.
Photo: UN Women/Ploy Phutpheng, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 licence (https://flic.kr/p/2quWq7q)