A/HRC/40/35 Copenhagen had tripled the number of female students in software development in two years. In concluding, Ms. Kjer Hansen reiterated that closing the digital gender gap was urgent and would lead to a better future for women worldwide. C. Overview of presentations 37. The moderator, Ms. Mori, introduced the panel discussion by stating that, on average, women earned 20 per cent less than men globally and 40 per cent less than men in sub-Saharan African countries. She reiterated Ms. Kjer Hansen’s observation, stating that approximately 250 million fewer women than men were online, more than the population of Brazil. According to ITU, the gap was narrowing in developed countries but widening in developing countries. Pointing to the failure to implement efficient, fast-paced, tailored and targeted interventions appropriate to the reality of different countries, she highlighted the importance of improving women’s and girls’ skills online, including their ability to conduct their business online and to increase their incomes so as to be able to reinvest into their families, communities, health and education. 38. Ms. Chair began by explaining that whether ICTs could benefit women’s businesses would largely depend on the context. Research she had conducted in 2013 in the informal sector found, for example, that the type of device, the affordability of ICT services and the level of skills and social capital in the community were important factors for women in determining whether ICTs were beneficial in enhancing their businesses. Another important consideration was that the technologies women were using had been designed within a context of social bias and cultural norms that did not necessarily promote gender equality. 39. Therefore, while emerging and new data-driven technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, held the promise of enhancing human development, they bore the risk of replicating existing harmful gender stereotypes and patterns of discrimination against women in relation to their economic activities. She noted that bias against women started with those involved in the design of machine learning: if they held biased views against women, the outcome would likely be biased, which could lead to discrimination and exclusion. She recommended that further research be undertaken to increase the advantages of artificial intelligence for women and girls, such as studies on how to make it more inclusive; how to establish accountability and redress in cases of bias; and the impact of artificial intelligence on employment with an intersectional focus, taking into account, for example, gender and other factors such as race, disability and migration status. She concluded that if artificial intelligence was to improve the chances for women to claim their economic rights online, it was necessary to be critical of innovation and understand its application to the diverse contexts that women operated in. 40. Mr. Shadrach remarked that harmful gender stereotypes prevailing in communities were reflected in online spaces, often resulting in online harassment, trolling and abuse with the goal of forcing women out of those spaces. In that regard, in the economic sphere, in spite of the many positive stories that encouraged women to use the World Wide Web to their advantage, there was a lot to be done to empower, educate and enable women and girls to exploit the fullest potential of the Web and close the gender digital gap. He stressed, however, that women should not be seen as mere users of ICTs but as active entrepreneurs and highly qualified workers in the ICT field and were part of the ICT revolution. 41. He noted that his organization had recommended a unique method, named REACT, to close the digital gender gap and ensure full digital inclusion. The REACT framework, which stood for rights, education, access, content and target, offered a holistic approach to ensure that women and girls were able to exploit the power of the Internet for their socioeconomic gains as well as for empowering themselves. The framework focused on: protecting everyone’s rights online (“rights”); equipping everyone, especially women, with skills necessary to access and use the Web effectively (“education”); ensuring free and affordable access to the open Web (“access”); ensuring relevant and empowering content for women (“content”); and setting and measuring concrete gender equity targets (“targets”). 42. Ms. Ndir pointed out that, according to a report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the region with the highest female entrepreneurial activity rate in the world — 25.9 per cent 8