Bridging the Digital Gender Divide

Published in 2003 by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), this 65-page study uses a gender lens focused
on women’s economic empowerment. It intends to highlight the best practices in South Asia, with special emphasis on India. It analyses the more visible ICT (information and communication technology) initiatives, extracting insights and learnings, providing thoughts on gender and ICTs in the context of poverty and development.

This paper was presented at a meeting jointly hosted by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and UNIFEM, highlighting the potential of women as a critical agency in the ICT sector.

From the Foreword

"One of the outstanding challenges of globalization is bridging the digital divide, which is growing with regard to women and girls. Trends of development in [ICTs] indicate that it is following the well-worn paths towards inequality and exclusion, putting women and girls at a disadvantage with regard to securing better livelihoods and other rights. This is further enabled with the masculine image attributed to science and technology in curriculum and media universally.
Few women are producers of information technology, whether as Internet content providers, programmers, designers, inventors, or fixers of computers. In addition, women are also conspicuously absent from decision-making structures in information technology in developing countries.

It is also often argued that the concern for gender and ICT in developing countries is not a compelling one, and should be secondary to meeting basic needs first. This contention, however, doesn’t quite hold, as it is not an either or situation, as both need to be addressed simultaneously. While ICT can offer significant opportunities for all girls and women, including those in rural areas, their ability to take advantage of these opportunities is contingent upon many things. Extension of infrastructure, particularly wireless and satellite communications, to rural areas and semi-urban areas is vital to increasing women’s access to information technology.

Access to information technology is probably one of the most important issues facing women globally, after feminization of poverty and violence against women. Though both women and men in situations of poverty share equally the lack of access to the gains from technology, the poverty of exclusion exacerbates the situation for women. For them the problem is compounded by other obstacles, such as social and cultural norms that constrain their mobility and access to resources. Efforts need to be directed towards enabling women utilize the new avenues opened by ICT for social, economic and political empowerment. For example, in recent years, women activists across the globe have networked
successfully using the Internet, to bring their agenda to UN world conferences. This can translate into significant political, economic and social gains for women.

...Gender issues are today central to the development dialogue and linkages between human rights, gender and development are indisputable. Working towards gender equality and gender justice, UNIFEM views the coming years, as critical to influencing and shaping the direction of ICTs for development. Building on its experience in advocating for gender equality in ICT development, its use and policy, UNIFEM seeks to increase options and opportunities for women and girls to become equal partners
in the development and use of ICTs, and in creating the policies that govern those technologies. Its overall goal is to harness globalization to benefit women, ensuring that ICTs create opportunity rather then exacerbate disparities, that women are empowered, not only as users but also as providers."