CEDAW/C/GC/40 D. Technological developments, including the rise of artificial intelligence 9. The rapidly evolving technological transition, propelled by the exponentially increasing importance of artificial intelligence as a core driver of the digital transformation, is changing the global community. This fifth industrial revolution has immense potential to benefit humanity if developed using an approach that is based on human rights, including women’s rights, and accessibility for persons with disabilities. Diverse perspectives and collective intelligence are essential to achieve this. However, due to gender gaps in access to technologies, including digital literacy, and in studies, careers and leadership positions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), women have been severely underrepresented in the development of these technological advances. For example, women make up only 29.2 per cent of all STEM workers, and roughly 30 per cent of the artificial intelligence workforce. 21 They comprise only 18 per cent of graduates from doctoral programmes on artificial intelligence, 22 and 13.83 per cent of artificial intelligence paper authors. 23 Only 12.4 per cent of women are C-Suite executives in STEM. 24 Artificial intelligence systems have also shown a tendency to reflect and magnify gender bias, 25 which manifests in discriminatory outputs, risking a rollback in gender equality gains and new forms of structural discrimination. E. Transformation and sustainability of the multilateral system and governance 10. The disruptive challenges described above must be dealt with at the local, national, regional and international levels. The rules and platforms of multilateralism, the role of which has expanded significantly in recent decades, often maintain discrimination, including the underrepresentation of women, and often respond insufficiently to the complexity of current challenges. A parity -based system, resolutely geared towards the integration of young people and intergenerational leadership, is a condition for the effectiveness, sustainability, resilience, legitimacy and accountability of the multilateral system. III. Seven pillars of equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems 11. Patriarchal structures impede the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems. Patriarchy is a system of power deeply embedded in political, social, economic and cultural structures. It creates a hierarchy, historically assigning distinct roles, worth and qualities to women and men. It results in a division of labour whereby women are primarily responsible for the private sphere of the home and family, while men are the main actors in the public sphere of politics and economy, based on differential weights assigned to efforts in the two domains. Patriarchy permeates all societies. At its most severe, it takes the form of an institutionalized __________________ 21 22 23 24 25 6/29 World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2023 (Geneva, 2023). Daniel Zhang and others, Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2021 (Stanford, Stanford University, 2021). Gabriela Ramos, “Why we must act now to close the gender gap in AI”, World Economic Forum, 22 August 2022. World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2023. UN-Women, “Artificial intelligence and gender equality”, 22 May 2024, available at www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/artificial-intelligence-and-gender-equality. 24-20036