Of Lessons, Gender Divides, and the Shadow Pandemic
In an age of scientific proliferation, when the Modern Renaissance Man is planning to live on Mars, women around the world continue to pay the price of repressive sociocultural norms in a rigged society. The digital gender divide, defined as the gap in technological access and ownership due to gender-based biases, is wider than ever, fuelled by the absence of gender-sensitive response policies in an economy that responded to the pandemic with increased digitalization.
By June of 2020, the coronavirus had brought the world down to its knees, and in his remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres equated the digital gender divide to “a matter of life and death”. By this time, all major economies were under a state of lockdown. A majority of commerce and education had taken roots online, and the e-commerce sector boomed.
The line connecting the ‘e’ to the ‘commerce’ is what we call the digital gender divide, as over 250 million women were left out of the revitalization of our economy in its digital avatar.
At this turning point, digital technology harbors infinite opportunities to scale up our efforts to eradicate poverty, make healthcare more accessible, and build a community more connected than ever before, and yet, the digital gender divide remains the largest in countries and communities that need it the most. In weaker economies, women are 21% less likely to own a mobile phone and 25% less likely to have internet connectivity(Source: Internet Society).
Girls unable to attend school and women at home are at an increased risk of domestic violence during the pandemic and are deprived of access to potentially life-saving digital services for lack of technological equipment. The lockdowns rendered the situation so grave that UN Women termed it to be the Shadow Pandemic.
In India itself, the National Commission for Women noted a two-fold increase in reports of violence against women, while women-protection NGO Jagori observed that calls to its helplines for women victims of violence fell by half during the national lockdown in April 2020.
Household surveillance of women’s presence online has always held them back from utilizing the digital landscape for all it has to offer, and the pandemic has pushed them further behind on their track to progress. Inaccess to the necessary technology and digital training not only exacerbates existing inequalities due to non-involvement of women in recent developments, but also hampers potential economic growth.
To put it in perspective, if 600 million more women were to be connected to the internet in 3 years, it would translate to a rise in global GDP of between USD 13 billion and USD 18 billion. (Source: Plan International)
A lack of digital understanding among women disadvantages any economy, depriving it of the creativity, energy, and perspective women have to offer.
In words of Theresa J Whitmarsh, if you exclude 50% of the talent pool, it's no wonder you find yourself in a war for talent.
We urgently need the identification of gender-specific barriers in socio-cultural norms and adaptive administrative policies that intervene and encourage shared access to resources. There is an immediate requirement for the protection of at-risk girls and women through helpline numbers, digital assistance, and the expansion of social support.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Training should be a must in school curriculums and while educational institutions digitalise the skillset of the next generation, we still need to undertake personalised, peer-to-peer solutions to reach older females.
As we live amidst a global pandemic, it’s time we recognize its universal impact and harness our technological power to extend our reach to the most vulnerable. Make online spaces safer for women. Internet should be a right, and not a privilege, especially in times like this pandemic. The social and economic paradigms are shifting, and we need to take this leap together.
Let’s get her on the grid.
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