BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:unctad.org BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6a7406b2c7885 DTSTART:20170427T070000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND:20170427T150000Z LOCATION:Geneva\, Switzerland SUMMARY:The Gender Dimension of E-commerce CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:While the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development aims to enhan ce the use of ICT to "\;achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls"\;\, there is an acknowledged digital divide in access to IC Ts between women and men.\n\nFor women entrepreneurs in particular\, the I nternet improves access to information\, mobile technology enables new pay ment channels and access to finance\, and ICT-enabled solutions help them to overcome time and mobility constraints\, to become trained\, and to net work. E-commerce provides women with new business opportunities and can he lp increase their participation in domestic and international trade.\n\nHo wever\, there is little official data about how many women-owned business access the Internet\, how they use it or to what extent they engage in e-c ommerce. In addition\, most women-owned businesses are in low-value sector s that are outside global value chains.\n\nThere is evidence that lack of literacy\, skills\, access\, resources and other factors are excluding wom en entrepreneurs from the opportunities offered by e-commerce. For example \, an UNCTAD-ILO assessment of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania found that as many as 97 per cent of the women used mobiles\, but only one in ten use d websites and only 16 per cent had sold products online\, pointing to the need for skills development.\n\nWomen can be empowered by increased parti cipation in e-commerce\, including in the higher value added sectors of th e ICT industry and ICT-enabled services. A tool such as the International Trade Centre'\;s SheTrades app connects buyers and women-owned enterpr ises worldwide\, as part of a wider initiative to connect one million wome n entrepreneurs to markets by 2020\, while the ITU-UN Women "\;EQUALS& quot\; coalition can promote gender equality through digital leadership. A lso\, more disaggregated data on women'\;s participation in the digita l economy and e-commerce will help shape and assess policies to improve th eir situation.\n\nThis session will consider the role e-commerce can play in connecting women to international markets and value chains.\n\n\n\nHow can women raise technical skills and build their capacity to engage in the digital economy?\n\n\nHow can we build digital leadership in order to bri ng more women online as entrepreneurs\, content creators\, and trade polic y influencers?\n\n\nWhat can be done in the context of the eTrade for All initiative?\n\n\n\nModerator: H.E. Ms. Frances Lisson\, Ambassador and Per manent Representative to the World Trade Organisation\, Australia\n\nPanel ists:\n\n\nH.E. Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan\, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom\, Pakistan\nMs. Lakshmi Puri\, Deputy Executive Di rector\, UN Women\nMs. Arancha Gonzalez\, Executive Director\, Internation al Trade Centre\, ITC\nMs. Shamika Sirimanne\, Director of Division of Tec hnology and Logistics\, UNCTAD\nMs. Doreen Bogdan\, Chief of Strategic Pla nning and Membership Department\, ITU\nMr. Joakim Reiter\, Group External Affairs Director\, Vodafone\nMr. Francesco Pasti\, Senior Services Analyst \, Connected Women\, GSMA\nMs. ‎Angela Steen\, EU Public Policy &\; G overnment Relations Director\, Etsy\nMs. Candace Knoth-Bisseck\, Country M anager\, Jumia Market\, Cameroon\nMs. Lucy Lawrence\, Fellow\, Victoria147 \nMs. Ann McCreath\, Founder and Chairman of Festival of African Fashion & amp\; Arts (FAFA)\, Managing Director at KikoRomeo Africa\nMs. Asma Shaikh \, Chief of People Officer\, TCS Holdings\n\n\n \n<\;p>\;While the Ag enda 2030 for sustainable development aims to enhance the use of ICT to &q uot\;<\;em>\;achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls&l t\;/em>\;"\;\, there is an acknowledged digital divide in access to ICTs between women and men.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;For women entreprene urs in particular\, the Internet improves access to information\, mobile t echnology enables new payment channels and access to finance\, and ICT-ena bled solutions help them to overcome time and mobility constraints\, to be come trained\, and to network. E-commerce provides women with new business opportunities and can help increase their participation in domestic and i nternational trade.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;However\, there is little of ficial data about how many women-owned business access the Internet\, how they use it or to what extent they engage in e-commerce. In addition\, mos t women-owned businesses are in low-value sectors that are outside global value chains.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;There is evidence that lack of lit eracy\, skills\, access\, resources and other factors are excluding women entrepreneurs from the opportunities offered by e-commerce. For example\, an UNCTAD-ILO assessment of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania found that as many as 97 per cent of the women used mobiles\, but only one in ten used w ebsites and only 16 per cent had sold products online\, pointing to the ne ed for skills development.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;Women can be empowere d by increased participation in e-commerce\, including in the higher value added sectors of the ICT industry and ICT-enabled services. A tool such a s the International Trade Centre'\;s SheTrades app connects buyers and women-owned enterprises worldwide\, as part of a wider initiative to conn ect one million women entrepreneurs to markets by 2020\, while the ITU-UN Women "\;EQUALS"\; coalition can promote gender equality through d igital leadership. Also\, more disaggregated data on women'\;s partici pation in the digital economy and e-commerce will help shape and assess po licies to improve their situation.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;This session will consider the role e-commerce can play in connecting women to internat ional markets and value chains.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;ol type="\;a\n\nVi ew meeting on unctad.org\nhttps://unctad.org/meeting/gender-dimension-e-co mmerce DTSTAMP:20260806T035946Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR