Why did we have to wait for a pandemic of this magnitude to realize that digital access should be universal?”.

“Why do people tend to assume that tech is gender neutral?”.

- World Bank Live event 2020.

How many times this week have you accessed the internet for work, banking, socialising, purchasing or just giggling at the latest meme.

Ok, how many times today?

Did you know however that there are still 3.2 Billion people unconnected globally and the vast majority of them are female.

Without equal access to technology and the internet, girls and women are not able to equally participate in our digital societies. They are unable to actively speak out on the issues that concern them, have access to the information and support networks to help educate and empower them or provide them with a simple means of feeling safe. 

It not only directly hinders their personal and professional development, but the ripple effect flows into their communities, blocking pathways for economic and social development.

It is incumbent upon us to work as hard as we can to ensure we close this digital divide and a divide it is.

According to the GSMA-The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2020*;

• Women are 56% less likely than their male counterparts to be connected in the world’s least developed countries (LDCs).

• In Low Middle Income Countries (LMICs), women are 20% less likely than their male counterparts to use mobile Internet.

theunconnected.org take these numbers very seriously and are working hard to develop and fund global projects that close the divide and empower girls and women through connectivity.

The report from GSMA shows how the awareness has increased:

•     Mobile internet awareness amongst females in India has gone from 19% to 50%.

•     In Bangladesh mobile internet awareness is now almost equal between males and females where previously it was heavily male dominated. 

The same study however shows that;

•      In India only 14% of women own a smartphone as compared to 37% of the men.

•      In Bangladesh only 21% of women have a smartphone as compared to 36% of the men.

So what are the barriers preventing equal growth rates in connectivity?

 One barrier as we understand it now for women to get connected is the lack of a mobile ownership. GSMA studies across Africa, Asia and Latin America have also uncovered one of the main barriers across both genders is affordability.

So if the main barrier for both genders were affordability, why would females have less access to smartphones? What is holding females back from owing a device? 

The GSMA study shows that the woman’s lack of agency on purchasing decisions is the primary barrier as you can see below.

With the knowledge that mobile ownership makes women feel safer, provide more opportunities, education and inclusiveness, we need global support to address the mobile gender gap. 

Women’s digital inclusion will also help catalyse broader gender equality across social, economic and political realms, benefiting not only women themselves, but also their communities and the economy that sustain them.

The digital gender gap is not going to close by itself. The root causes, as we know are complex and driven by social and cultural barriers that can only be overcome by the collective drive of all of us.

theunconnected.org, are fully focused on this mission, connecting businesses and people like you to fund projects to help close the digital divide; 

Join, be an active partner, donor or supporter and share the journey for a more connected world.

To follow the projects theunconnected.org are doing click through and like their page https://www.linkedin.com/company/theunconnected-org/

 You can read the whole report here https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GSMA-The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2020.pdf