Concerns about ``AI widening inequality'': Women's participation in development - UN official

On the 7th, Nyarazai Gunbonzubanda, Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Women's Agency (UN Women), who is visiting Japan, gave an interview to Jiji Press in Tokyo and warned that artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to widen global inequality. She emphasized that by encouraging women to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and participate in AI development, they can help reduce disparities in the digital world.

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Gunbonzbanda points out that people who have difficulty accessing digital spaces, such as indigenous peoples, may be left behind by public policy, and women may have their lives taken away from them in an instant due to the spread of false images and videos (deepfakes). There are few women working in STEM fields, and in order to improve the digital field, she called for women to ``use their own experience to develop AI.''

He praised the progress that has been made in gender equality since the United Nations was established in 1945. Examples include an increase in the number of girls receiving primary education and a decrease in the number of deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth. However, out of 193 member countries, only 28 have women as leaders, and in the political field, ``the number of women involved in decision-making is small and the rate of increase is too slow.'' While calling the birth of Japan's first female prime minister "very important," she emphasized the importance of increasing the number of women in local government and cabinet positions.

On the other hand, as countries continue to increase their defense spending due to the harsh international situation, she argues that sufficient budget should be allocated to improving the status of women. He called for efforts to correct the wage gap between men and women and to make sanitary products tax exempt.

◇ Biography of Mr. Nyarazai Gunbonzubanda

Mr. Nyarazai Gumbonsbanda is from Zimbabwe. Master of Laws from the University of South Africa and Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Massachusetts. After working for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, now UN Women), and the World YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), she became the first goodwill ambassador for the abolition of child marriage for the African Union (AU). Deputy Director-General of UN Women since February 2014.