gender digital divide

• Digital technologies


  Electronic tools, systems, devices and resources that generate, store or process data
• Digital technologies are continually evolving and expanding
• Examples of digital technologies


  • Internet and mobile technologies
  • Digital networks, content, services and applications
  • Old and new systems of media, communication and information
  • Connected devices and environments
  • Virtual and augmented reality
  • Artificial intelligence, including machine learning
  • Robotics
  • Automated systems and data analytics
  • Biometrics and biotechnology
• Over 90% of jobs worldwide have a digital component
• Distinct geographic, economic, and social gaps in access to digital technologies persist, including those related to disability and gender
• Closing the digital divide for all children needs tailored understanding and actions for each of these barriers
• The gender digital divide community of knowledge is overwhelmingly focused on women (above 18 years)
• Most data available to quantify the gender digital divide focuses on adults only, not children
• Gender digital divide


  Large gap in women and girls' digital adoption and use compared to men and boys
• More than 50% of the world's women are offline
• In developing countries, the internet penetration rate for adult women is 41%, compared to 53% for men
• 393 million adult women in developing countries do not own mobile phones, and globally, women are 8% less likely to own a mobile phone than men
• The gender gap in mobile ownership is much larger in South Asia (23%) and sub-Saharan Africa (13%)
• Women are more likely than men to borrow or share mobile phones and are rarely the primary owners of a mobile device
• Women are more likely to have simpler feature phones that do not support mobile internet use, and women are 20% less likely than men to own a smartphone
• Gender inequality in the physical world is replicated in the digital world
• Women tend to use mobiles and the internet differently than men, with a smaller range of digital services, less frequent and intensive use, and less frequent access to the internet
• The gender gap in digital access is accompanied by a gender gap in meaningful digital use
• Girls aged 15–19 years were less likely than boys to have used the internet in the past 12 months, and they also had lower mobile phone ownership
• The greatest disparities in internet use and mobile phone ownership between girls and boys were in South Asian countries
• Boys are 1.5 times more likely than girls to own a mobile phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone
• More than half (52%) of girls borrow mobile phones if they want digital access, compared to 28% of boys
• Roughly 46% of boys use the internet on their phones, compared to 27% of girls
• Without increased digital adoption and use, girls will have fewer employment opportunities and will face additional barriers to workforce participation
• Digital access can empower women and girls, help expand their sense of self in the world, increase civic engagement, and raise awareness of their rights
• Reasons for the digital gender gap


  • Inequitable access to education
  • Harmful social norms that exist in the "offline" world and impact digital realities and potential benefits for women and girls
• Factors that need to be addressed to close the gender digital divide


  • Access
  • Digital literacy
  • Online safety
• Access


  Key barrier to women and girls' digital inclusion, including access to devices, data, and networks
• Low levels of infrastructure, network quality, and coverage disproportionally affect access for women and girls
• Women often have lower levels of income and are often less financially independent, which affects their ability to afford digital access
• Women and girls who live in remote areas were particularly affected by gaps in infrastructure and network coverage in rural areas
• Social norms and gender inequality underpin women's and girls' lesser digital access
• The internet is often perceived as a risk to the traditional social order or seen as unsafe for women and girls, leading to male (or family/community) gatekeepers controlling or restricting access to devices and the internet
• Removal of social norms barriers enables women and girls to be more frequent and active users of digital technology
• Digital literacy


  Knowledge, skills and attitudes that allow adults and children to thrive in an increasingly global digital world, being both safe and empowered, in ways that are appropriate to their age and local cultures and contexts
• Inequality in education represents a major contributor to the gender digital divide, as women and girls have lower levels of education and less practice in using or creating digital content
• As a result, women's and girls' digital adoption and use is frequently limited by lower levels of digital literacy, and a lack of confidence
• Women who have some secondary education are six times more likely to be online than women with only primary education or less
• d digital technology, as well as the knowledge of how to do so safely, securely and with trusted information and protected data.
• Among the main concepts used by international organizations (digital literacy, digital skills, digital competence and digital citizenship), the UNICEF Digital Literacy Scoping Paper (2019) proposes the concept of digital literacy as most suitable for UNICEF.