*sECMVTI JG*DPVME $-04*/((&/%&3%*7*%&4 */%*(*5"-4,*--4 5)306()&%6$"5*0/ 8JUIUIFTVQQPSUPG This publication was prepared by UNESCO for the EQUALS Skills Coalition, one of three coalitions that comprise the EQUALS partnership. EQUALS is a global partnership of governments and organizations dedicated to promoting gender balance in the technology sector by championing equality of access, skills and leadership for women and men alike. The Skills Coalition, Access Coalition, Leadership Coalition and a transversal Research Group release knowledge products periodically, organize competitions and funds, and take actions in countries and internationally to advance EQUALS’s mission. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) generously supported this publication financially and co-leads the EQUALS Skills Coalition with UNESCO. A dedicated working group composed of digital skills and gender experts guided the development of the content. Published in 2019 by EQUALS © EQUALS GEN/2019/EQUALS/1 REV 2 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CCBY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). Authors: Mark West, Rebecca Kraut and Han Ei Chew Design: Huieun Kim Contents ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION ____ 04 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ____ 06 POLICY PAPER Rationales and recommendations for 07 gender-equal digital skills education ____ THINK PIECE 1: The ICT gender equality paradox 74 ____ THINK PIECE 2: The rise of gendered AI and its troubling 85 repercussions ____ BIBLIOGRAPHY ____ 135 4 About this publication The title of this publication borrows its name from the response given by Siri, a female-gendered voice assistant used by hundreds of millions of people, when a human user would tell ‘her’, “Hey Siri, you’re a bi***.” Although the AI software that powers Siri has, as of April 2019, been updated to reply to the insult more flatly (”I don’t know how to respond to that”), the assistant’s submissiveness in the face of gender abuse remains unchanged since the technology’s wide release in 2011. Siri’s ‘female’ obsequiousness – and the servility expressed by so many other digital assistants projected as young women – provides a powerful illustration of gender biases coded into technology products, pervasive in the technology sector and apparent in digital skills education. This publication seeks to expose some of these biases and put forward ideas to begin closing a digital skills gender gap that is, in most parts of the world, wide and growing. Today, women and girls are 25 per cent less likely than men to know how to leverage digital technology for basic purposes, 4 times less likely to know how to programme computers and 13 times less likely to file for a technology patent. At a moment when every sector is becoming a technology sector, these gaps should make policy-makers, educators and everyday citizens ‘blush’ in alarm. The publication explains the role gender-responsive education can play to help reset gendered views of technology and ensure equality for women and girls. 5 The publication has three parts: a policy paper and two think pieces. The POLICY PAPER outlines the persistence and severity of the digital skills gender gap, provides a rationale for interventions, and makes recommendations to help women and girls develop strong digital skills through education. THINK PIECE 1 explains the ICT gender equality paradox, UNESCO’s finding that countries with the highest levels of gender equality such as those in Europe also have the lowest proportions of women pursuing advanced degrees in computer science and related subjects. Conversely, countries with low levels of gender equality such as those in the Arab region have the highest proportions of women completing advanced technology degrees. THINK PIECE 2 examines how AI voice assistants projected as young women perpetuate harmful gender biases. It offers recommendations to ensure that the continued proliferation of digital assistants does not widen gender divides. The think pieces are intended to complement the policy brief, but also function as stand-alone products. The EQUALS Skills Coalition hopes that the three outputs, considered collectively, shine new light on the persistence of digital gender divides and, more importantly, inform education interventions to help women and girls cultivate the digital skills they need to thrive in life, learning and work. 6 Acknowledgements This publication is part of a project on digital skills development for girls and women that was conceived and developed by Saniye Gülser Corat, Director of the Division for Gender Equality at UNESCO, and Norman Schraepel, Policy Adviser at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), within the framework of the EQUALS global partnership for gender equality in the digital age.* Mark West of UNESCO prepared the publication, with inputs from a working group composed of members of the EQUALS Skills Coalition. The working group included, from UNESCO: Borhene Chakroun, Hiromichi Katayama, Eunsong Kim, Elspeth McOmish, Fengchun Miao, Celia Pannetier, Rachel Pollack, Justine Sass and Davide Storti; from ITU: Carla Licciardello, Anna Polomska and Susan Schorr; from the Government of Germany: Vanessa Dreier (GIZ), Birgit Frank (BMZ) and Alexandra Galeitzke (GIZ); from Wikimedia: Georgina Fields and Jan Gerlach; from GSMA: Mariana Lopez and Claire Sibthorpe; as well as Jennifer Breslin (Futuristas, USA), Svenia Busson (HEC, France), Han Ei Chew (RySense, Singapore), Laura Cyron (UNCTAD), Maria Garrido (University of Washington), Renata Jovanovic (EY), Rebecca Kraut, Simon McGrath (University of Nottingham), Aditi Mishra (University of Pennsylvania), Nicole Pitter Patterson (Women’s Economic Imperative), Tim Unwin (Royal Holloway, University of London), Steve Vosloo (UNICEF) and Sarah Watson (Mozilla Foundation). Rebecca Kraut co-authored the Policy Paper ‘Rationales and recommendations for gender-equal digital skills education’. Han Ei Chew co-authored Think Piece 1 on ‘The ICT gender equality paradox’ and led the quantitative analysis, with support from Hiromichi Katayama, Mantas Sekmokas and Yemon Sung. Jennifer Breslin and Rachel Pollack contributed to Think Piece 2 on ‘The rise of female-gendered AI and its troubling repercussions’. The overarching work was overseen by Saniye Gülser Corat and Elspeth McOmish. UNESCO wishes to express special appreciation to the Government of Germany, in particular Birgit Frank of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Vanessa Dreier, Alexandra Galeitzke and Johanna Hartung of GIZ, who made valuable contributions to each phase of the development of the project. BMZ provided essential financial support. * EQUALS is a multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to create a global movement whereby women and girls are equal participants in the technology revolution. It is hosted by the International Telecommunication Union, under the leadership of Doreen Bogdan-Martin. 7 THINK PIECE 1 POLICY PAPER RATIONALES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GENDER-EQUAL DIGITAL SKILLS EDUCATION 8 POLICY PAPER CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 Understanding the digital skills gender gap DEFINING DIGITAL SKILLS THE SEVERITY AND PERSISTENCE OF THE DIGITAL SKILLS GENDER GAP THE ACCESS DIVIDE VS THE SKILLS DIVIDE GENDER DISPARITIES ACROSS SKILL LEVELS THE ROOTS OF THE DIGITAL SKILLS GENDER GAP THE GAP WIDENS IN SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EDUCATION THE DIGITAL SKILLS GENDER GAP AND THE LABOUR MARKET THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIGITAL SKILLS AND GENDER EQUALITY CHAPTER 2 Why closing the skills gap matters DIGITAL SKILLS FACILITATE ENTRY INTO THE LABOUR MARKET DIGITAL SKILLS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR WOMEN’S SAFETY BOTH ONLINE AND OFFLINE DIGITAL SKILLS ENHANCE WOMEN’S COMMUNITY AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT DIGITAL SKILLS BRING ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO WOMEN AND SOCIETY DIGITAL SKILLS EMPOWER WOMEN TO HELP STEER THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY AND GENDER EQUALITY DIGITAL SKILLS FOR WOMEN ACCELERATE PROGRESS TOWARDS INTERNATIONAL GOALS 9 POLICY PAPER CHAPTER 3 Recommendations for closing the digital skills gender gap ADOPT SUSTAINED, VARIED AND LIFE-WIDE APPROACHES ESTABLISH INCENTIVES, TARGETS AND QUOTAS EMBED ICT IN FORMAL EDUCATION SUPPORT ENGAGING EXPERIENCES EMPHASIZE MEANINGFUL USE AND TANGIBLE BENEFITS ENCOURAGE COLLABORATIVE AND PEER LEARNING CREATE SAFE SPACES AND MEET WOMEN WHERE THEY ARE EXAMINE EXCLUSIONARY PRACTICES AND LANGUAGE RECRUIT AND TRAIN GENDER-SENSITIVE TEACHERS PROMOTE ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS BRING PARENTS ON BOARD LEVERAGE COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS AND RECRUIT ALLIES SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY AUTONOMY AND WOMEN’S DIGITAL RIGHTS USE UNIVERSAL SERVICE AND ACCESS FUNDS COLLECT AND USE DATA, AND SET ACTIONABLE INDICATORS AND TARGETS CONCLUSION REFERENCES 10 POLICY PAPER INTRODUCTION Digital skills and competencies have moved from optional to essential. In today’s technology-saturated societies, the ability to leverage digital technology is increasingly indispensable to an individual’s well-being, on the same plane of necessity as numeracy and literacy. Without an ability to control technology, people risk being controlled by it, or isolated from local, national and global communities. Against this backdrop, education systems are trying to ensure equitable, inclusive and high-quality digital skills education and training. These efforts carry special urgency because digital skills open pathways to further learning and skills development. Indeed, today it would be difficult to name two more powerful engines for