Events

The President of the Kuwaiti Federation of Women's Associations, Sheikh Fadiyah Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, reiterated her appreciation for the role of women in the attainment of the values of citizenship and the building and promotion of democracy, economic development and other outcomes of the United Nations Plan for Sustainable Development 2030 and its 17 related objectives.

In her speech on Wednesday on the occasion of International Women's Day, Sheikh Fadia said that the Federation seeks to promote awareness about the advancement of the status of women and to give them the prospects of advancement and status they deserve.

It was not a question of granting women free privileges, but rather of giving them their legal and legal rights. In today's world, women could not be deprived of their rights. That was the content expressed by the United Nations at this year's observance of International Women's Day under the theme "Digitization for all: innovation and technology for gender equality".

International Women's Day this year recognized the outstanding contributions of women's movements and human rights defenders who used the transformative power of digital technology to communicate with others, mobilize resources and bring about social change while combating the continuing undermining of women's rights.

Women's rights were human rights, regardless of where they chose to participate, whether online, at home, at work or elsewhere. We must strengthen the protection of women and girls, support and expand their civil space, access to information, meaningful participation and equal access to justice when their rights were violated, including in the digital space.

The comprehensive development for which we are working within the Federation of Kuwaiti Women's Associations in all fields will not be beneficial in the absence of participation by women and the benefits of progress by all components of society. We therefore always call for the development of the legal arsenal in line with women's awareness of their rights and duties and the progress achieved in various areas.

The qualitative shift made by the world in advancing the status of women must not forget the troubles experienced by a large number of women who were experiencing marginalization and exclusion in a sporadic quarter of today's world.

Sheikh Fadia said that all that impeded women's empowerment of their rights was in itself an impediment to development. If the world faced many structural challenges, women should not perform their price, but rather participate as an essential force in building societies capable of adapting to transformations and developments, especially technical ones.

Digital technologies were at the core of many economic activities and would remain so in the future, but most of the 3.9 billion people who were offline lived in rural areas, most of them women.

Although economic growth did not automatically lead to gender equality, when more women worked, it would contribute to economic diversification and productivity and address inequality, which in turn contributed to more sustainable economic growth.

She stressed the need to identify bottlenecks and facilitate opportunities for women who outperformed men in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to move into the labour market, noting that this was one of the policy priorities in advancing the overall knowledge economy in many countries.

For his part, the Executive Director of the Geneva Institute for Human Rights, Nizar Abdelkader, said that despite all the achievements of the Women's March, statistics and data continue to say that women are the most vulnerable to violence, discrimination and inequality, the most vulnerable to poverty, illiteracy, the least developed and the most affected by war and armed conflict.

However, according to United Nations statistics, 37 per cent of women do not use the Internet, including 3 billion women and girls in developing countries.

Working towards women's enjoyment of all their rights required international solidarity and smart partnerships, integrating the role of drama, information, educational and educational curricula, cultural strategies, national and international legislation, social and economic policies.

From United Nations Headquarters, there was a televised address by the Director-General of the Arab Women's Organization, Dr. Fadia Kiwan, during a tribute and appreciation to Kuwaiti women and the Kuwaiti Federation of Women's Associations, which is making great efforts to enhance the role and capacity of Kuwaiti women in various fields.

This year, the title of Women and Digitisation, and we must follow up on the successive developments in the world, especially technological developments, was indicative of the important role of technology in facilitating human life and that we must enhance women's digitization skills to keep pace with contemporary life.

Traditional employment opportunities would be curtailed in the coming years in various fields and opportunities would be allowed to work in technological areas.