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The e-Newsletter of the Gender Network April 2014 | Vol. 8, No.1

Gender and ICTs – Bridging the digital divide By Susheela Venkataraman

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How many times have you checked your e-mail today? Or

logged in to your favorite social network? Or even just opened

up a new window to browse the internet?

Information, communication and technology (ICT) have

transformed our world in ways that could not have been

possible just a few decades ago. It has changed the way

organizations work, the way information is shared, even the

ways that we connect to other people. Ten years ago many of

us have never even sent a single e-mail. Now we have integrated that, along with mobile

messaging, social networking, and other forms of communication to change the way we

interact with each other. Right now, 10 million texts are being sent every minute. That is a

lot of communication taking place. And that number will just keep on growing. Today,

almost 40% of the world’s population has access to the internet. Traditional modes of

thought and business are being transformed every day, even giving rise to new industries

such as BPOs.

Little wonder that ICT has been called a “digital dragon”.

Yes, ICT has changed our lives. It has made our world more

connected and more informed, but has it made our world more

inclusive? In many ways, the answer is yes. For women, ICT has

opened a whole new world of knowledge, services, and economic

opportunities where before they had to depend on the men in their

family, just to let them use the radio.

Thanks to mobile phones, a woman farmer in South Asia can get a

leg up on her work. She can receive information about the best

times to sow, the best prices to sell her wares, and even advance

warnings for inclement weather, pests or diseases. For women

farmers, who do not have the same level of access and participation

to workers’ cooperatives or other producers’ organizations, their

mobile phones become an information gateway.

Thanks to telemedicine, pregnant women in isolated rural Mongolia have access to advanced

healthcare remotely. This can mean life or death not just for them, but for the infant that

they carry. Many of them had to travel 1,500 kilometers over bumpy roads just to reach a

major treatment center, costing time and the well-being of the expecting mothers. ICT

ensures that babies are born in a better way, and that infant mortality in the region is

decreasing.

1 Asian Development Bank’s Principal Director, Office of Information Systems and Technology

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These are just some of innovative applications of ICT for women worldwide. But for every

success story, there are also many stories of hardship and inequality that remind us that

there still exists a gender gap even in the digital world. Family opposition is oftentimes the

strongest factor against women using ICT. Non-users are six times more likely to report

family opposition to their use of the internet. Girls are prevented from accessing the

Internet using the same, common argument against basic schooling: because they might

get exposed, because their honor and virtue need to be “protected”.

In Pakistan, two teenage sisters were murdered simply because they posted a video of

themselves dancing in the rain. This did not happen ten years ago—it happened in 2013.

We are in a world accelerating at a huge pace but women are

being left behind. In the developing world, 23% less women

than men have access to the internet. This figure soars to

more than 40% in areas like Sub-Saharan Africa. The global

ICT industry itself employs many more men than women. And

guess what? They earn much more too.

One study says that if we take action now, we can actually

double the number of women that have access to the Internet in just three years. That

would empower 150 million women, add 70 billion to the market, contribute 18 billion to the

GDP, and boost by 15% the worldwide per capita income.

Is that something we should ignore? I believe not.

First, we need to recognize Internet penetration and equal access to the Internet as being

an extremely important part of development. It is a foundation. And if we don’t address

this, we are actually allowing the gender gap to grow - and grow rapidly, to a point where it

will become extremely difficult to even start thinking of bringing it back under control.

Next, we must enable ICT industries and markets to become more inclusive. We should

encourage active participation of women in everything to do with ICT. When we talk about

ICT, it’s not just the technology itself; it’s about the way people use technology. Without

active participation and active involvement from everyone all we would have is technology

that serves no one.

Finally, we must work together in breaking the cycle. ICT is a powerful tool, not just in

making our lives convenient, but in also empowering the lives of marginalized,

disenfranchised individuals. We have much to gain in using ICT in our efforts to reduce the

gender gap.

This is my dream, that all of us will be putting to use this digital dragon for the good of the

world, for the good of the women of the world. Because if 50% of the world’s population is

not happy, the world’s population is not happy; if 50% of the world’s population is poor, the

world is poor.

Sources: Geldof, Marije. Earphones are not for women: gendered ICT use among youths in Ethiopia and Malawi. (USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, 2011) Gender equality and food security: women’s empowerment as a tool against hunger. (FAO and ADB, 2013) ICT facts and figures (ITU, 2013).

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Intel. Women and the web. (2012). Mobile devices and their impact. (ICT in Agriculture, 2012). http://www.ictinagriculture.org/sourcebook/module-3-mobile-devices-and-their-impact. “Telemedicine supports maternal and newborn health in Mongolia”. Telemedicine: opportunities and developments in member states. (WHO, 2009). Two girls, mother killed over family video. (Dawn.com, 2013) http://www.dawn.com/news/1020576

---------------------------------- The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development

Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this

paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as

to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.