{"id":7882,"date":"2024-12-10T07:59:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T06:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=7882"},"modified":"2024-12-10T08:00:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T07:00:37","slug":"in-nisa-fl-era-digitali-sigurta-u-setgha","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/in-nisa-fl-era-digitali-sigurta-u-setgha\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in the digital era: safety and empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Awareness, education and being conscious of what content is put online are key to empowerment and safety in the digital world, speakers at an EP public discussion in Valletta underlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians, industry, academic and legal experts on technology and Artificial Intelligence took part in the Women in the Digital Era: Safety and Empowermentevent organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta to mark the EU-wide gender equality week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The still existing divide between the genders in STEM subjects and IT skills requires a shift in the traditional mind-set that technological subjects are for boys, speakers agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen in Malta are now nearing a par with men in basic and intermediate skills levels, but progress is still needed,\u201d noted Abigail Aquilina, Business Development and Outreach Manager at Tech.mt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe issue is when it comes to advanced skills and higher-level jobs,\u201d noted Ms Marthese Vella, Chief Technology Officer for AX Group and Malta Chamber of Commerce promoter of ICT careers among women. \u201cYet, careers in ICT offer a level of flexibility such that women in motherhood should be encouraged rather than deterred in seeking these as a professional field\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is lots to choose from in terms of ICT skills training in Malta but both the cultural mindset and lack of information on the options could be holding women back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn education, the great complex issue is the cultural mind set. Women are just as technically gifted as men, it is a mind-set to believe that men are more cut out for technologically-related careers,\u201d emphasized Dr Vanessa Camilleri, an academic at UoM\u2019s Department of Artificial Intelligence. \u201cOnly 9% of our graduates in technology are female\u201d.
She noted that \u201c10 years ago we were teaching people how to write code, now we have the tech to do that, so we need to teach people to think\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUse AI as a tool, and question it,\u201d Hon Claudette Buttigieg said, underlining the need for educational approach that teaches and encourages students to think for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maltese MP noted the importance of laws acting as a deterrent to certain behaviours and underlined the importance of implementing laws. Laws need to include fines that are \u201cmore than a slap on the wrist\u201d noted Dr Claire Cassar, a lawyer specializing in ICT and Data Privacy, who noted also the difficulty in obtaining redress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU laws and international developments from \u201cAI rules<\/a>, to the Digital Services Act<\/a>, to the directive on Violence Against Women<\/a> and the EU signing the Istanbul convention<\/a>\u201d, are all  tools to identify and protect our rights, noted former MEP Dr Josianne Cutajar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen women in the public eye are being criticised, sexual images are used. Males are criticised differently. Women should not be subject to gender-sexualised language,\u201d Dr Cutajar said. \u201cThe VAW directive provides recourse on how to seek legal help and get the removal of images online\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online safety includes basic but important steps to take, outlined by Ms Vella as strong passwords, two-factor authentication, privacy policies and settings.  \u201cIn cases of harassment online: take screen shots and report, to the platforms like Facebook, that have their own blocking policy, and also to the police if it gets really bad. Do not divulge sensitive personal info, and if you do, make sure you know who is at the other end\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c19% of the worldwide population has had its identity stolen,\u201d warned influencer and former radio presenter Trudy Kerr. \u201cLast year 3 billion identities were stolen and published on the dark web. We should be rejecting cookies. Every single image on the internet is there forever, including photos of our children. As much goodness as there is on the internet, there is also a whole world that is also dark\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe solution is not to step away from platforms, but for politicians to push for more control,\u201d noted Dr Camilleri. \u201cAwareness when sharing data is paramount: share consciously\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion in Malta was part of a series of events on gender equality<\/a> taking place at the European Parliament in Brussels and around Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AI Act is the first-ever legal framework on AI<\/a>, which addresses the risks of AI and positions Europe to play a leading role globally.  Regulation (EU) 2024\/1689 lays down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and provides AI developers and deployers with clear requirements and obligations regarding specific uses of AI. At the same time, the regulation seeks to reduce administrative and financial burdens for business, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Digital Services Act<\/a> ensures that all digital services, especially the so-called \u201cVery Large Online Platforms\u201d like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and \u201cVery Large Online Search Engines\u201d like Google or Bing, do more to protect users\u2019 rights, keep us safe and stop the spread of illegal or inappropriate content. The DSA covers different types and sizes of online services, used by anyone in the European Union, wherever the service is based. It sets stricter rules for the biggest services. The DSA requires online platforms to consider the impact of their services on important issues such as fair elections, public safety, the mental and physical well-being of users, and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gender-equality week address by EP President Roberta Metsola<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Awareness, education and being conscious of what content is put online are key to empowerment and safety in the digital world, speakers at an EP public discussion in Valletta underlined. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7879,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[404],"issuem_issue_categories":[8],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7882"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7882"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7884,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7882\/revisions\/7884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=7882"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=7882"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=7882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}