Health, education, opportunity at stake, amid stubborn digital gender divide

Closing this gap is not optional. There were189 million fewer women than men online in 2024.  

The disparity is about more than access, it reflects deeper systemic barriers, according to ​Doreen Bogdan-Martin who heads the UN telecommunications agency, ITU.

That’s too many missed opportunities to learn, to earn and to shape our shared digital future,” she said in a message for Thursday’s International Girls in ICT Day.

She underscored that connectivity alone is not enough to ensure true digital transformation.

“It must be meaningful – being able to afford digital devices and services, having the skills to use technology and feeling safe in online spaces. Everyone deserves the chance to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s video message.

2025 Theme

Celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of April, Girls in ICT Day encourages girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Since its launch in 2011, more than 417,000 girls and young women have participated in over 11,500 celebrations across 175 countries.

This year’s theme is Girls in ICT for inclusive digital transformation. The ITU is calling for more investment in girls’ digital education and expansion of access to technology.  

More young women need to become creators – not just consumers in the digital world, the agency argues.

“Whether you are an entrepreneur, launching an AI startup, a teacher incorporating digital skills into your classroom or a policymaker shaping our shared digital future, you can help ensure every woman and girl has the chance to connect, create and lead in digital spaces,” Ms. Bogdan-Martin emphasised.

A participant at a UN-supported training on STEM for girls and young women.

A participant at a UN-supported training on STEM for girls and young women.

Global observance

The 2025 global observance will be co-hosted this year by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Eurasia together with States from the Arab region, featuring a live-streamed hybrid event linking Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Nouakchott, Mauritania.

The programme includes an intergenerational dialogue bringing together girls, women leaders, and ICT experts to discuss practical strategies for closing the gender gap.

Events are also being organized worldwide, including Girls in ICT in Solomon Islands in the Pacific, the Melon Girls Club in North Macedonia and STEM Supergirls in Croatia.

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Lady Gaga Comes to Ed Sheeran’s Rescue over Twitter Saga

The singer and song writer Ed Sheeran had a harrowing time for his remarks published in a na interview in “The Sun” magazine on Monday. The singer had said he would cease to be active on Twitter, the social media platform in a huff until Lady Gaga herself came to his rescue.

In her typical rescue mission, Lady Gaga shared her support for Ed Sheeran. “What an incredible talented artist I LOVE ED @edsheeran deserves all our love and respect like all humans do,” she said in her Instagram post.

“I wish all people on the internet would be positive and loving and apart of creating an online community that is kind and empowering, not hateful and mean. No reason to tear down an artist simply because they are on top. Work harder to be kinder everybody. That should be your first duty to humanity,” she said, showing the singer what humility means despite stardom.

Sheeran, the “Shape of You” singer, was not new to making accusatory remarks to media. In January, he told Beats Radio 1 that he would like not to be like other artists, indirectly hinting at the top Lady Gaga and others. “You’ve seen them become the biggest artists in the world, and then suddenly they will say, ‘I know everything!’ And just after, they are no longer at the top,” Sheeran said in the interview.

Soon the fans of Lady Gaga had set off a trolling tirade against the singer on Twitter and other social media, forcing him to get out of the Twitter blaming that the Twitter base was only assuming things and targeting him.

Sheeran, who is currently on tour in North America, said he would ask his team to communicate in general and on Twitter or his father would do the direct talk now. “I have people like my dad who will have a conversation with me,” he said. “I don’t have to have someone calling me a whatever.”

Sheeran, 26, rose to fame with in 2011 with his debut album and has since been certified seven-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single “The A Team”, which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. He also won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act in 2012.

In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s fourth studio album, Red and his “The A Team” was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.

His second studio album, x (read as “multiply”) in 2014 went on to become a big hit in the UK and the US. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year. His single from x, “Thinking Out Loud”, earned him two Grammy Awards in 2016 in categories of Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Sheeran’s third album, ÷ (read as “divide”), released in March 2017, became a hit as number one in the UK, the US and other major markets. The first two singles from the album, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill”, were released in January 2017 and broke records in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and Germany.