“Must not let up”: Berset wants to promote equality through digitization

Switzerland supports initiatives to promote women’s and girls’ access to technology and innovation. “We must not give up!” wrote Federal President Alain Berset late Monday evening on the short message service Twitter.

Digitization should be used to improve women’s lives: “Their health, their rights, their safety and their access to education,” Berset continued.

A central theme of the CSW meeting was women’s access to education in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology (MINT). Today, women are also significantly under-represented in the coin sector in Switzerland.

Digital technologies offer opportunities for progress towards gender equality, but also carry the risk of harming parts of society, according to the EDI. This is because not everyone has access to digital applications and because the digital space also offers opportunities for discrimination. In Switzerland, for example, a majority of those who are victims of online violence are women, and in the case of sexual violence in the digital sphere, the figure even rises to 90 percent.

Switzerland therefore also supports initiatives to protect against cyber violence, the FDHA continues in the statement. The CSW is the only UN body dedicated exclusively to issues such as gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It reports to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc). Switzerland is currently a member of the Commission and will remain as one of 45 countries until 2024. (sda)