Thailand has been contributing to the narrowing gender gap in Southeast Asia.  This enable the country to record impressive growth in women’s adoption and use of mobile technologies.

Regional Director, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Dr Atsuko Okuda disclosed this when delivering her opening address at the 2-day online training session on Media Literacy & Disinformation to commemorate ITU’s Girls in ICT Day 2022 Thailand.  As part of the concerted efforts, ITU has been celebrating International Girls in ICT Day since 2011 and the global theme of the celebration this year is Access and Safety.

Nevertheless, the gender digital divide continues to persist in employment, entrepreneurship and leadership opportunities.  Therefore, there is a need to raise awareness on the cause and impact of gender digital divide across society.

“Therefore, I’m delighted to share with you that we worked with AIBD and USAID’s Digital Asia Accelerator programme to support female journalists from Thailand, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Cambodia to attend ITU’s Generation Connect Youth Summit and World Telecommunication Development Conference which was just concluded in Kigali Rwanda on 10^th June 2022. These journalists will also attend capacity building sessions in October 2022 to create a dedicated cohort of female cybersecurity reporters throughout Asia-Pacific”, said Dr Okuda.

She hoped that the two-day training would enhance the participants’ new knowledge and skills on media literacy and disinformation and to pursue academic and professional careers in STEM, in particularly ICTs. This will help to develop the digital workforce of tomorrow and ensure that girls and young women are active members of the workforce, equipped with diverse digital skills.

Dr Mary Pimrapaat is sharing her knowledge on Media Literacy.

For the benefits of the university students in Thailand, this first-ever online workshop on Media Literacy & Disinformation is conducted in Thai language by three speakers.