By: Rebecca Theodore
May 13, 2025
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have been sanctioned as a foundation of a utopian society. However, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is undermining nearly all the advancements and promises of gender equality Goal 5 and the empowerment of women and girls in the Caribbean.
Despite the fact, that the digital revolution has advanced social and economic opportunities for women globally, a digital gender gap persists, affecting the equitable margin between high, low- and middle-income women in the Caribbean. It is essential to note that digital skills gap in the Caribbean education sector also perpetuates gender biases in technology, and the underrepresentation of women in technical fields.
Within this realm, it is contentious to note, that the new covert of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced robotics are posing major new challenges for women and girls in the Caribbean. Gender equality is the core of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, and is critical to achieving sustainable development through poverty reduction and the attainment of food security. However, it seems that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now resetting these approaches in our new digital age.
Essentially, artificial intelligence (AI) powered recruitment software is discriminating against women, and offsetting the progress that the small developing states in the Caribbean have made towards gender equality. Artificial intelligence software is further perpetuating existing patterns of gender and racial inequality and the status quo.
According to the United Nations Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade. While it is true, that innovation and digital tools provide opportunities for greater access to information, and opens possibilities for increased employment and business opportunities, women and girls in Caribbean communities and under developed regions are left behind.
Moreover, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2019 report has aptly described the manner in which artificial intelligence stigmatizes and marginalizes women as a ‘gender bias.’ As the evidence indicates, gender biases in artificial intelligence training data sets, algorithms and devices are proliferating and perpetuating and reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes, thereby , placing Caribbean women at risk of being left behind in all realms of economically, politically and socially. These ‘gender biases’ are impeding progress towards establishing global standards on innovation and technology for gender equality.
This now gives rise to a shifting landscape of debate on the ethics of artificial intelligence principles. Many technological companies in the Caribbean are reluctant to address the systematic, economic and political policies of goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal agenda. Hence, the socio-economic inequalities that women face in the technological field in the Caribbean requires concrete policy recommendations to advance progress for women’s rights within the digital society.
More to the point, the rapid pace of change in automation and the innovation of the digital economy necessitates a revival of a gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology and digital education in the Caribbean. If global agreements on regulations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 agenda are needed to drive humanity to its desired success, then policy recommendations are essential. The proliferation of artificial intelligence driven misinformation and inequalities must not be overlooked in this narrative.
Transformative technology and digital education promote inclusivity for a sustainable future. Consequently, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 must intensify efforts to conduct regional analyses of the economic impacts of investing in gender equality in education in the Caribbean.
Growing inequalities are increasingly apparent in digital skills and access to technologies. Many Caribbean women are being left behind due to this digital gender divide. These inequalities highlight the humanitarian challenges of achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 5 agenda.
Undoubtedly, the United Nations Sustainable Development goal 5 must provide concrete policy recommendations to advance progress for women and girls in the Caribbean, ensuring that no one is left behind.
(Rebecca Theodore is an international journalist and syndicated op-ed columnist based in New York. She writes on the platform of national security, politics, human rights and the environment. Email her at rebethd@aol.com )
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