20 March 2023, Seoul. Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Korea H.E. Theresa Dizon-De Vega was one of the panel of experts invited by the Sookmyung Women's University (SWU) for the 2nd Sookmyung Women's University International Women's Day Forum held on 08 March 2023. This is the second time Sookmyung university hosted the forum in honor of women's contribution to the society and to commemorate 2023 International Women's Day and the second time for Ambassador Dizon-De Vega to be invited to the forum.

During the panel discussion, Ambassador Dizon-De Vega shared insights on one of the critical issues in addressing gender equality-the digital gender divide. She stressed the importance allowing women to fully participate in the digital economy and encourage public and private sector cooperation in bridging the digital gender divide.

To emphasize the Philippines' active support for gender equality and technology, Ambassador Dizon-De Vega shared the country's commitment to guarantee universal connectivity by ensuring women's inclusion in ICT.

To date, there have been significant achievements on Philippine gender policies such as the inclusion of provisions of affordable, accessible, and reliable internet services to our communities, including marginalized women. One of the notable achievements of the Philippines is the launching of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of the Digital Innovation for Women Advancement (DIWA) to increase Filipino women's role in ICT and the completion of the Philippines' national 2022 Women and ICT Development Index (WIDI) Survey, the first-ever national survey that aims to generate indicators on how women are able to access and use ICTs and its result show that women in the digital space form the backbone of our digital economy. END