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| (Image Source: GMA News Online/GCash) |
UN Women, the global champion for gender equality and women empowerment, and GCash, the Philippines’ leading financial super app, in collaboration with Connected Women, the premier Filipino community for women’s empowerment in the digital economy, recently hosted its 2025 Women in Tech Summit, “Our Seat At The Table”, to help accelerate tech inclusion for women and girls. ‘Our Seat At The Table’ doubled as a think tank where actionable insights were formulated to supplement the policy recommendations to support the implementation of the UN Women Gender Action Lab (GAL): Innovation for Impact, an initiative powered by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and supported by the Government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Seventy (70) influential women leaders from different industries and sectors gathered to workshop solutions and share best practices for enabling women’s economic empowerment through tech. Her Excellency HK Yu PSM, FCPA (Aust), Australian ambassador to the Philippines, delivered the keynote address as guest of honor, highlighting three tenets that could inspire the strategies developed by the participants. Ambassador Yu began saying, “The first thing is to give women and girls a voice [and then] create platforms like this for [those] voices to come through. The second thing is to invest in women and girls, [which] can be done at the highest level — through your companies and your government — and the individual level.” Ambassador Yu also cited ways Australia puts gender equality at the center of diplomacy. “In everything we do, we ask the question: ‘[This should be] 50-50, and if it’s not, why not?’” The principle is used in Australian policies; for example, Australia has a target that more than 80% of development programs should effectively address gender equality. To touch on the third and final tenet, Ambassador Yu shared some statistics of note: Today, women and girls are 20% less likely to have smartphones, and 28% are less likely to have access to the internet. She shared, “Another challenge for this particular set of sector leaders is [to ensure that] whatever innovation or product you come up with in your area [is] woman- and girl-friendly.”
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| Her Excellency HK Yu PSM, FCPA (Aust), Australian ambassador to the Philippines, delivered the keynote address as guest of honor, highlighting three tenets that could inspire the strategies developed by the participants. (Image Source: GMA News Online/GCash) |
Ambassador Yu asked, “What are we doing to rebalance this so that we women and girls get the advantage?” She then stated, “I call [the solution] ‘positive bias’. As leaders, you have the power to make a huge difference, so apply positive bias. Let’s [ensure] we achieve a world where there is true equality and where women and girls always have a seat at the table.” GCash Chief Strategy Officer Rowie Zamora further set the tone for the event, reminding attendees about the innate responsibility to apply that positive bias. She shared, “Gone are the days when people are surprised that we have women tech leaders, CEOs, and public sector leaders, but we need to acknowledge that there’s still a long way [to go]. Now the real work ahead of us is to think of the rest of the women inside and outside NCR who still need help to be part of the digital economy.” “Our Seat At The Table” centered on action-oriented solutions. The attendees participated in five thought-provoking roundtable discussions tackling today’s critical issues, facilitated by women leaders specializing in the respective topics. These included WomenBizPH chairperson and Airspeed President and CEO Rosemarie Rafael who moderated the “Digital Entrepreneurship And Business Innovation” session, and Mettamatch Co-Founder and CEO and Connected Women Founder Gina Romero who moderated the “Corporate Transformation And Professional Development” session alongside her co-facilitator, Accenture Philippines Country Lead Ambe Tierro. Felta Multimedia Inc. President and CEO Mylene Abiva steered the discussion on “Technology And Innovation” while Linartes Viloria, the National Project coordinator of Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Programme of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for the Philippines, guided the “Education And Skills Development” session. Meanwhile, Women In Security Alliance Philippines Chairperson, President and CEO Mel Migrino facilitated the “Online Safety And Cybersecurity” roundtable discussion.
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| (Image Source: GMA News Online/GCash) |
This multi-sectoral representation allowed for every voice to be heard and for the development of holistic opportunities that address the multifaceted barriers many women face in accessing and utilizing digital technologies. “The integration of technology in the lives of women and girls is a tool for empowerment [and simultaneously] a vehicle for societal transformation. Let us advocate for policies and programs that uplift women and bridge the gender gap. Let us mentor and nurture the next generation of women leaders in technology and beyond. Let us work tirelessly toward creating a world where every woman and girl can flourish, regardless of the obstacles in her path,” said UN Women Gender Action Lab Programme Analyst Antoinette Santos. “Our Seat At The Table” culminates the global celebration of International Women’s Month on March but only marks the beginning of GCash’s mission to “Accelerate Action, Accelerate Inclusion” — a campaign that has prioritized results-oriented advocacies and tangible change in digital fintech spaces for Filipino women. This is followed by the celebration of Women in Tech month in April of GCash, a global movement to drive awareness, recognition, and action toward greater inclusion in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education and the tech industry. GCash, a predominantly women-led company, is set to serve as a testament to how women can serve as catalysts for change and reiterate its commitment to an accessible, diverse, equitable, and responsive digital landscape that leaves no one behind.
