The European Parliament adopted the resolution on empowering women and girls through the digital sector.

All around the globe, women as a demographic group are less likely to be online than men. 68 % of men and 62 % of women use computers and the internet on a regular basis. 54 % of men, compared to 48 % of women, use the internet on mobile devices.

Digital models of communication have contributed to the creation of conditions conducive to the increased dissemination of hate speech and threats against women, with 18 % of women in Europe having suffered some form of cyber harassment since reaching adolescence.

On the other hand, digitalisation offers new opportunities for entrepreneurship for women. Therefore, there is a need to support female digital entrepreneurship as it is one of the fastest growing and prospering sectors in the economy.

In this regard, Members called on the Commission to:

exploit and better target the Digital Agenda and the Digital Single Market Strategy with a view to addressing the serious gender gap within the ICT sector and fostering the education and training of women and girls in ICT and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects; implement the actions aimed at reducing the gender pay , earnings and pension gaps, thus fighting poverty among women.

The Commission and the Member States are called on to:

make funds available and to improve access to existing funds in order to promote and support women entrepreneurs, particularly in the framework of the digital transformation of industry; support lifelong learning as well as training and schemes which help participants to adapt better or to prepare for a potential change of career path in accordance with the growing demand for e-skills in many different sectors, paying particular attention to women aged 55 and over, in particular those with caregiver responsibilities, and women who have taken a break from their career or are re-entering the workplace; promote women’s networks online, as they involve a bottom-up approach to women’s empowerment; identify the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation, also with regard to working conditions, such as unstable forms of employment and work-related mental health problems; promote STEM education for girls from a young age, given that girls move away from STEM subjects at an earlier stage of their educational path due to the gender stereotypes surrounding these subjects; guarantee the protection of girls from advertising in the digital environment that could incite them to behaviour harmful to their health.

Lastly, Members called for the EU institutions, agencies and bodies, as well as the Member States and their law enforcement agencies, to cooperate and take concrete steps to coordinate their actions to counter the use of ICT to commit crimes related to trafficking in human beings, cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking, given that they are often cross-border in nature and that EU-level coordination is vital in order to prosecute these crimes. Member States are invited to review their criminal law to ensure that new forms of digital violence are defined and acknowledged.