Every year, in addition to the Priority Theme, CSW reviews progress on the Priority Theme from five years before. At CSW66, the Review Theme is Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work (agreed conclusions of the sixty-first session). On March 15, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and IT for Change co-sponsored a parallel event on the Review Theme, to look into how the digital world of work can be made feminist and gender equal. How can we ensure feminist futures in the digital age? What policy and programmatic actions are needed at the global, national and local levels to expand women's economic empowerment pathways in digitalizing value chains? What are the roles and responsibilities of the UN system, governments, private sector and civil society?
COVID-19 has rolled back women's economic gains, widened the gender poverty gap and disproportionately impacted women's jobs and women's enterprises. UN Women's 'Feminist Plan' for a post-pandemic, gender-inclusive and sustainable economic recovery, calls for "building back a people-centered economy that centers women's access to decent work, social protection and right to food." Unfortunately, in the Big Tech-dominated digital economic paradigm, it is difficult to realize this feminist vision. The emerging fourth industrial revolution puts women -- especially in the global South -- at disproportionate risk of being excluded from the economic dividends of advanced technologies. Women continue to be relegated to the low value segments of the global digital value chains in agriculture, manufacturing and services. As an example, digital industrialization impacts women negatively in the garment sector, which employs many women workers. Women are more vulnerable to changes in the labor market when robots take over the low-end, repetitive jobs mostly done by women.
In the second half of the 20th century, women’s movements mobilized for equal economic rights, to increase women's participation in the work force, and ensure fair working conditions. In the new 21st century industrial paradigm, new forms of injustice and inequality have arisen and are becoming starker, brought into focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. The gender poverty gap has widened. Social spending has decreased, and womens’ unpaid care work has increased. Big Tech domination of digital value chains is not benefiting marginalized women. A feminist future depends on systemic and substantive transformation of the economic system. Big Data, artificial intelligence and digital platforms are powering the infrastructures of today. How can we safeguard women's economic empowerment in the digital world? What is happening to the social contract, what is social justice in a digitalizing world?
Lack of access to digital infrastructure -- connectivity, digital ID systems, digital payment architectures -- increases their risk of being excluded from the social safety nets of increasingly digitalized welfare states. E-commerce opportunities for women's empowerment have not materialized in the absence of policy measures to create a level playing field for women-run small informal businesses. Women's economic success in e-commerce is limited by their limited digital and data capacities, working capital constraints, and lack of access to formal credit. New technology-supported remote work arrangements that have emerged post-pandemic have deepened the precarious position of women in the labor market, instead of opening up flexible work opportunities.
Digital trade and e-commerce create opportunities for some women, but mostly in the global North. In the global South, the majority of women are micro-entrepreneurs, in more fragmented informal markets, lacking access to financial resources, having higher costs and smaller inventories. The benefits of remote work and flexible work are not accruing to women of the global South. To beneft from these innovations, women need to move into higher value-added markets.
The UN Conference on Trade and Devlopment (UNCTAD) launched the eTrade for Women initiative to build more inclusive digital ecosystems by empowering women digital entrepreneurs in developing countries. Small-scale women entrepreneurs who use mobile phones to access e-commerce marketplaces can come together in networks, to learn from each other, share skills, and raise their visibility in a larger scale marketplace, and thereby increase their access to credit.
The digital economy and e-commerce have developed faster than governments have been able to monitor. We need to develop a regulatory framework to govern the growth and behavior of the tech giants, geared towards social transformation and protection of human rights, fighting digital crime, online harassment, and digital violence. We need rules and protection for women and girls in the digital workplace. We need new social policies commensurate with the new digital world. The digital world can allow people to escape regulations and go around the legal system. Digital markets are reflecting and promoting inequalities, and more and more aspects of our lives are being commodified. We need to redefine how we interpret and protect human rights in this sphere.
Big Tech needs to be regulated. Regulatory authorities need to catch up, but where should questions of data governance be decided? The EU was first to adopt data protection regulations with GDPR. Other regions should follow this example. The global economy is changing so fast, data protections will need to be reviewed and revised very soon. We see how difficult it is to reach agreement on CSW agreed conclusions; imagine how difficult it would be to reach a multilateral agreement on the digital economy and data governance.
The internet can also be a platform for activists joining together as universalist citizens of the world, bring our movements together instead of women's movement and climate activists working in silos. Issues in the Digital Commons can only be addressed at the multilateral level, by building alliances, pooling resources and creating synergies. Our best hope for the future will be bringing together people from around the world with different experiences and dreams, with the protection of The Commons and human rights as a starting point.