‘Gender bias is a huge danger in AI — we must halt tech from being by and for men’

Economist Lina Galvez Munoz is a member of the European Parliament and Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. In Delhi, Munoz spoke with Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke about technology and women’s rights, regulating the digital world and gender equality in Europe, the US — and India:What is the purpose of your visit?I am visiting India with the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament. We advance gender equality policies within the European Union (EU) and work on the EU’s Gender Action Plan for external programs. This applies when the EU works with other countries via cooperation programs, trade agreements, etc. We also seek to learn about gender from other countries. India is a wonderful place — it is culturally rich and diverse, which is similar to the EU. India is leading in areas like science and technology and it is a prominent head of the Global South. So, we’re here to explore how to work together in tackling gender inequality, violence against women and the lack of opportunities for girls.Speaking of technology, globally, we see greater male access to internet, mobiles, etc. — how do you see this gender imbalance play out with AI?This is possibly one of the most dangerous aspects of AI we must deal with now — unless we correct how this is developing, the impacts will be very damaging for gender equality. A technology is not good or bad in itself — it depends on how it is designed and used. AI is basically data and algorithms — the data here is already biased because programmers doing this work see reality mostly from a male gaze. Our existing AI framework has been mainly constructed by men — women are treated as ‘the other’. It’s worrying because an entirely new framework is being built through digitisation — and this draws from biased data and algorithms mainly designed by men, further increasing gender biases embedded in AI. Women already have less access to the digital world — we now risk the future of these fields becoming mainly by and for men. We must correct this while we can, making AI inclusive and getting more women to design this new world. This cannot be left largely to affluent white men sitting in California. Does the EU have specific steps in mind for this?We have legislation and we’re putting more policies on the table. The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act is a broad first step — it outlines how the development of AI should be humancentric and must respect human rights and inclusion. We also have the EU’s Digital Services Act that basically says whatever is illegal offline should be illegal online — if you put up deepfakes, for instance, which commodify women and do not have consent, this must be punished. A platform should be held accountable for what happens on it — this is like the environmental commons, in a way, where you have tech platforms using a commons but for private gain and without public benefit or accountability. That must be addressed.We are also working to improve the participation of women in STEM (science, tech, engineering and math) — currently, while we are doing quite well in women’s education here, this does not reflect in women working later on in STEM. Social stereotypes hold many back. Our societies still emphasise hyper-beautification for girls, pushing them towards being ‘nice’ and ‘attractive’ rather than entering science and technology. Similarly, we socialise boys into being ‘masculine’ rather than emphasising their participation in care work, which is left mostly to women and highly undervalued.Importantly, a huge amount of money in the digital world now promotes toxic masculinity — this explains why so many countries are seeing the rise of such machismo and political movements which explicitly reject demands for gender equality and deny the reality of gender-based violence. This is not happening out of the blue — this is coming also from a new extreme right coalition which invests billions of dollars via social media into such damaging mindsets. Social media’s business model — cultivating hateful material simply in order to have longer engagement — is certainly harming women more.How does Europe as a whole compare in terms of gender equality to America today?There are some countries in Europe now which have a ‘strongman’ in power and engage in the politics of toxic masculinity. In America, we are seeing disturbing measures towards stopping the financing of gender studies and feminist knowledge — vested interests are trying to destroy crucial advances that were made. Social rights are in danger in many states. But Europe, with all its differences, is still resisting — European women are advancing economically and in spheres of knowledge. We need many more on the digital building side. Our work on reproductive agency for women navigates diverse member states — we are seeing pushbacks in some, so we have to be alert. I hope the United States, with its extremely strong knowledge communities and civil society, will fight off tendencies to deny women’s equality. What are your views on gender equality in India?What gives me great hope is that India’s government and Parliament are really trying to advance women’s empowerment. Several key legislations have been passed. India also has a very strong civil society — its people are pushing authorities to mainstream gender. Some social norms are still deeply unequal for boys and girls. This is not easy to change. There is consequently a gap between development policies and their implementation. The EU and India should work together on closing this gap.Can the recently-signed India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) emphasise gender equality?Gender is certainly included within the FTA. There is also a need for data collection. We require this to know social reality — and transform it. We recognise there are challenges due to poverty and differences in cultural approaches to gender in India, alongside growing digital violence against women. However, the FTA does offer us common ground by increasing women’s participation in trade, the digital world, etc. and we can use this now to work through government, media, educationists and civil society groups to empower women.(Views expressed are personal) Times Evoke ‘Diplomaticus’ is an occasional series with international envoys on environment, society & geopolitics