Media Partnership - Closing the digital gender gap: women’s participation in the digital economy

The present COVID-19 crisis, which revolutionised the way people and companies use ICT and other digital technologies to work and interact, has also highlighted the urgency to promote gender balance in the digital sector. Inequalities were identified decades ago, and efforts have been made to address them over the years. Nevertheless, such gender unbalance persists in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields generally, and in the digital sector specifically (e.g. digital technologies, Computer Science, Information Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, etc.).It is necessary to encourage women’s participation in technical and high-level jobs by overcoming educational barriers from an early stage, as well as professional barriers, while guaranteeing digital lifelong learning for women.Eliminating the gender gap will boost prosperity at all levels and ensure social justice through enhanced equality between women and men.To this end, not only public authorities are asked to combat the digital gender gap: private actors are also expected to carry out targeted actions to efficiently enhance the participation and role of women in the digital economy.How to promote gender equality in ICT companies and related sectors and in the digital economy? What policies and targeted measures can be adopted to reduce the gender gap in the digital economy? How can the Commission and Member States foster women’s entrepreneurship and engagement in innovation?We, the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking, support the digital transformation of all economic and societal sectors, and we want to address such issues from an internal point of view. We are confident that our high-tech community (Electronic Components and Systems) may propose concrete measures and actions in this respect and become a model to follow.