According to a 2022 report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), increasing digital literacy and connectivity could potentially add $100 billion to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, with women benefiting disproportionately more.
Digital platforms and electronic payments offer leapfrogging opportunities in the form of skill training, access to employment and added income, thereby improving women’s standard of living. However, only a third of Indian women (33%) have ever used the internet, compared to more than half (57%) of men.
The 78th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), for 2020-21, also highlighted the stark difference between men’s and women’s access to smartphones: 49% of adult men in rural India had smartphones compared to only 26% of adult women.
A study by the Internet Society Foundation in 32 countries including India estimated that women’s exclusion from the digital world has led these countries to miss out on $1 trillion in GDP.
The digital gender gap not only directly contributes to lost economic potential, but also acts as a roadblock in the delivery of interventions such as social security benefits intended to empower women.
However, to bridge this gap, we must look beyond device ownership as a singular matrix and understand the complexities of women’s relationship with technology in rapidly changing societies.
Our recent visit to the interiors of Pali district in Rajasthan informed us that while most women had shared devices available at home, access to those devices was restricted and their online behaviour was frequently supervised by male members.
The men of the household knew how to navigate the internet and spent time reading the news and watching content online. In this community, mobile phones are considered a risk to women’s reputation before marriage and an interruption to care-giving responsibilities after marriage.
Women avoid using their phones in public due to established social standards and fear of being judged. Constant reiteration of common beliefs like women being technologically challenged has also led to women feeling under-confident while using technology, despite possessing the requisite skills.
Grassroot organizations working in Uttarakhand identified a similar trend. Male students had fairly unsupervised access to devices distributed under a state government scheme, while access was limited to a little over an hour per day for female students, with additional supervision on their activities.
Both these examples indicate that digital inclusion is not synonymous with digital access, but is a combination of access, digital agency and digital literacy. While efforts are underway to bridge gaps in access, we must also pay attention to digital dynamics within households and how to increase women’s digital agency.
This brings us to an important question. What interventions are required to improve women’s participation in the digital and the creator economy?
The United States Agency For International Development’s (USAID) Gender Digital Divide Risk Mitigation Technical Note and Resource Toolkit recommends customizing information and communications technology (ICT) outreach and digital literacy campaigns to include family and community gatekeepers, especially men and other influential local leaders, while discussing the possible hazards and benefits of access to digital technologies.
Two-SIM combos—one for a female member and another for a male—launched by Telenor under Project Sampark in 2014 led to a 33% uptick in first-time female mobile users.
Similar incentive-based initiatives can be coupled with sensitization and awareness generation through chosen female ‘digital champions’ in families, schools and communities to encourage behavioural shifts among households and communities.
Building on programmes such as Computer Sakhis in Rajasthan and Digital Sakhis in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, self-help groups can also serve as hubs for basic digital upskilling.
Similarly, ‘Internet Sakhis’ can teach each other how to use the internet for tasks like account book-keeping and learning the details of new schemes like Mahila-e-Haat to expand their small businesses.
Plus, incorporating basic digital skills, cyber hygiene and knowledge of tools available online in school curricula would empower girls to confidently and safely explore the digital world. Initiatives like Be Internet Awesome, YLAC Digital Champions Program and Digital Nagrik Program aim for exactly that.
Grassroot organizations with strong local ties and a deep understanding of the community context should be leveraged for implementation, so that they are able to address social norms around the use of technology.
Even as we expand digital access, equal attention should be paid to systemic interventions that address inequitable social norms around the use of technology. This is essential for Indian women to be equal and empowered participants in Digital India’s success.
The authors are, respectively, senior officer and officer, programs, at Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC)
#empower #women #participate #equally #progress #Digital #India
