UN Women, the global champion for gender equality and women empowerment, and GCash, the Philippines’ leading financial super app, in collaboration with Connected Women, the premier Filipino community for women’s empowerment in the digital economy, recently hosted its 2025 Women in Tech Summit, “Our Seat at the Table,” to help accelerate tech inclusion for women and girls.
Our Seat at the Table doubled as a think tank, where actionable insights were formulated to supplement the policy recommendations to support the implementation of the UN Women Gender Action Lab (GAL): Innovation for Impact, an initiative powered by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and supported by the Government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
70 influential women leaders from different industries and sectors gathered to workshop solutions and share best practices for enabling women’s economic empowerment through tech.
Her Excellency HK Yu PSM, FCPA (Aust), Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, delivered the keynote address as guest of honor to highlight three tenets that could inspire the strategies developed by the participants.
“The first thing is to give women and girls a voice [and then] create platforms like this for [those] voices to come through,”
began Ambassador Yu.
“The second thing is to invest in women and girls, [which] can be done at the highest level—through your companies and your government—and the individual level.”
Ambassador Yu also cited ways Australia puts gender equality at the center of diplomacy.
“In everything we do, we ask the question: ‘[This should be] 50-50, and if it’s not, why not?’” The principle is used in Australian policies, as the government is mandated to design development programs where 80% of initiatives should meet a gender equality objective.
Innovating to promote gender inclusion
To touch on the third and final tenet, Yu shared some statistics of note: Today, women and girls are 20% less likely to have smartphones, and 28% are less likely to have access to the internet.
She shared:
“Another challenge for this particular set of sector leaders is [to ensure that] whatever innovation or product you come up with in your area [is] woman- and girl-friendly.”
“What are we doing to rebalance this so that we women and girls get the advantage?”
asked Ambassador Yu.
“I call [the solution] ‘positive bias.’ As leaders, you have the power to make a huge difference, so apply positive bias. Let’s [ensure] we achieve a world where there is true equality and where women and girls always have a seat at the table.”
Rowie Zamora, the Chief Strategy Officer of GCash, further set the tone for the event, reminding attendees about the innate responsibility to apply that positive bias.
“Gone are the days when people are surprised that we have women tech leaders, CEOs, and public sector leaders, but we need to acknowledge that there’s still a long way [to go],”
she shared.
“Now the real work ahead of us is to think of the rest of the women inside and outside NCR who still need help to be part of the digital economy.”
Banding together for more significant breakthroughs
“Our Seat at the Table” centered on action-oriented solutions. The attendees participated in five thought-provoking roundtable discussions tackling today’s critical issues, facilitated by women leaders specializing in the respective topics.
These included Rosemarie Rafael, WomenBizPH Chairperson and President & CEO of Airspeed, who moderated the “Digital Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation” session, and Gina Romero, the CEO & Co-Founder of Mettamatch and Founder of Connected Women, who moderated the “Corporate Transformation and Professional Development” session alongside her co-facilitator Ambe Tierro, the Country Lead of Accenture.
Mylene Abiva, President & CEO of Felta MultiMedia, Inc., steered the discussion on “Technology and Innovation,” while Linartes Viloria, the National Project Coordinator of Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Programme of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for the Philippines, guided the “Education and Skills Development” session. Meanwhile, Mel Migrino, the Chair, President & CEO of Women in Security Alliance Philippines, facilitated the “Online Safety and Cybersecurity” roundtable discussion.
This multi-sectoral representation allowed for every voice to be heard and for the development of holistic opportunities that address the multifaceted barriers many women face in accessing and utilizing digital technologies.
“The integration of technology in the lives of women and girls is a tool for empowerment [and simultaneously] a vehicle for societal transformation,”
said Antoinette Santos, the Programme Analyst for the UN Women Gender Action Lab.
“Let us advocate for policies and programs that uplift women and bridge the gender gap,”
added Santos.
“Let us mentor and nurture the next generation of women leaders in technology and beyond. Let us work tirelessly toward creating a world where every woman and girl can flourish, regardless of the obstacles in her path.”
“Our Seat at the Table” culminates the global celebration of International Women’s Month in March but only marks the beginning of GCash’s mission to “Accelerate Action, Accelerate Inclusion”—a campaign that has prioritized results-oriented advocacies and tangible change in digital fintech spaces for Filipino women.
This is followed by the celebration of Women in Tech month in April of GCash, a global movement to drive awareness, recognition, and action toward greater inclusion in STEM education and the tech industry. GCash, a predominantly women-led company, is set to serve as a testament to how women can serve as catalysts for change and reiterate its commitment to an accessible, diverse, equitable, and responsive digital landscape that leaves no one behind.
About Mynt
Mynt is the first and only $5 billion unicorn in the Philippines. It's a leader in mobile financial services focused on accelerating financial inclusion through mobile money, financial services, and technology. Mynt operates two fintech companies: GXI, the mobile wallet operator of GCash — the #1 Finance App in the Philippines, and Fuse Lending, a tech-based lending company that gives Filipinos access to microloans and business loans.
About GCash
GCash is the Philippines’ #1 Finance App and Largest Cashless Ecosystem. Through the GCash App, users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills via partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 6 million partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. GCash’s mobile wallet operations are handled by G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt, the first and only duacorn in the Philippines.
Mynt and GCash are staunch supporters of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly UN SDGs 5,8,10, and 13, which focus on safety & security, financial inclusion, diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, respectively.
For more information, please contact:
Bruce Rodriguez, Head of Business Communications
Corporate Communications
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This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute, or form part of, any offer, solicitation, or invitation to sell, issue, purchase, or subscribe for any securities in the Philippines, the United States, or any other jurisdiction. No securities of Mynt, Inc. have been or will be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. There will be no public offering of the securities of the Company in the United States. No money, securities or other consideration is being solicited by this document or the information contained herein and, if sent in response to this document or the information contained herein, will not be accepted. Any potential initial public offering and listing in the Philippines, if pursued, remain fully subject to prevailing market conditions and regulatory approvals, including the registration requirements of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission and the listing rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc., and there can be no assurance that any such filings will be made or that any offering or listing will be consummated. This document contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties; actual results, timelines, and outcomes may differ materially from those projected due to shifting market dynamics, economic environments, and regulatory updates.
