ABOUT
Advancing access to the digital economy for women and girls
Promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls is fundamental for the realization of human rights and sustainable development outcomes. Advancing access to digital technology for all women and girls spurs economic growth, improves health, education and welfare, and has the power to lift millions out of poverty.
Improving women’s livelihoods, economic security, and resilience.
The Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) is a $60M+ initiative that will identify, directly fund, and accelerate investment in proven solutions to close the gender digital divide – including women-led solutions, products, and tools – thereby improving women’s livelihoods, economic security, and resilience. Launched in March 2023, WiDEF’s founding partners include USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Gender Digital Divide
While the rapid development and adoption of digital technology is transforming how people gain access to information, goods, and services, access is unequal and there are significant gender gaps.
The gender digital divide reflects inequality between men and women in terms of digital technology access and use and limits women’s empowerment, slows economic growth, and leaves communities at risk of instability.
Women are less likely than men to be online.
According to the UN International Telecommunication Union, there are approximately 244 million more men than women using the internet in 2023. In low- and middle-income countries, mobile phones are the primary and often only way people go online, especially women but, according to the GSMA, women are 19% less likely than men to use mobile internet.
Progress to close the gap has stalled.
While more women are using mobile internet than ever before, the GSMA has found that, for the second year in a row, women’s digital inclusion has slowed across low- and middle-income countries and progress in reducing the gender gap remains stalled. The mobile internet gender gaps are largest in South Asia (41%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (36%) where almost two thirds of women in low- and middle-income countries who are not using mobile internet live.
Inequality online mirrors inequality offline.
The gender gaps are also higher among those who are the most underserved, including those with low literacy, low incomes, who live in a rural area or have a disability. Women also tend to use their mobile phones for a narrower range of activities and use mobile internet less regularly than men.
The cost of the gender digital divide to individuals, families, and society is huge.
The implications of digital exclusion are massive – the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership estimated that countries have missed out on $1 trillion USD in GDP as a result of women’s exclusion from the digital world. Meanwhile, GSMA research has found that closing the gender gap in mobile internet use in low- and middle-income countries could deliver an additional $700 billion in GDP growth over five years.
Closing the gender digital divide is about more than logging on.
Access to the internet means access to a whole new economy for millions of women and girls. Digital technology provides opportunities for education, civic participation, employment, entrepreneurship, and access to financing that are out of reach for those offline. Digital inclusion could generate up to 64 million new jobs for women by 2025 and women business owners have consistently demonstrated how digitalization enhances business performance and resilience. Closing the digital divide would not only transform the lives of women and girls around the globe, it would transform the global economy.
It’s time to reverse the trends.
The data are a clear call to action to do more to ensure women are not being left behind in an increasingly digital world and that women, their communities and the broader economy reap the significant benefits of being connected. The internet provides women with critical access to information, services, and opportunities, including those related to health care, education, financial services, and income generation.
Recognizing the urgent need to reverse these trends, WiDEF aims to drive change across five pillars of equitable digital inclusion: access and affordability; relevant products and tools; literacy and skills; safety and security; and data and insights.
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