World Telecommunication & Information Society Day, 17 May 2025
10 May 2025
Theme : Gender equality in digital transformation
On 17 May 2025, the annual celebration of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) will focus on gender equality in digital transformation as resolved by the ITU Council 2023 in Resolution 1416. The Sustainable Digital Transformation is one of the Union’s Strategic Goals approved to helps raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.
Digital technologies have the power to accelerate progress across every sector of society, yet that potential remains out of reach for many. Of the 2.6 billion people still unconnected, the majority are women and girls. Gaps in access and affordability of the internet and digital devices, as well as limited digital skills, continue to hinder the participation of women and girls in today’s economy and in shaping tomorrow’s digital solutions. Bridging this divide is essential to unlocking new pathways for economic growth, innovation, and sustainable development.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) 2025 highlights the pressing need to advance digital gender equality, so that women and girls everywhere can also benefit from and contribute to digital transformation. Closing the gender digital divide unlocks opportunity for all.
The world is moving slowly towards gender parity in Internet use – Based on the ITU Facts and Figures 2024 report, an estimated 70 per cent of men use the Internet worldwide in 2024, compared with 65 per cent of women. Although there are 189 million more men than women using the Internet, the world has been moving towards gender parity except in least developed countries. Gender, geographic, and economic divides prevent equitable access to the Internet. Equality for women and girls in the ICT sector remains an ongoing challenge of extending the benefits of new technologies to all the world’s inhabitants, regardless of age, gender, ability, or location.