• India continues to push forward as a digitally powered and empowered nation at an astonishing pace.
• With India’s position at the G20’s helm and drive towards a trillion-dollar-plus digital economy, the country has its building blocks in place to be at the forefront of the next digital revolution.
• However, India also needs a comprehensive strategy to ensure that its economy gains from female participation.

India’s digital divide data

• Only one in three women in India (33%) have ever used the internet, compared to more than half (57%) of men.
• Rural India faces an even more pronounced divide, with men twice as likely as women to have used the internet (49% vs 25%).
• India is home to the largest number of women anywhere in the world—an estimated 691 million.
• This represents 691 million opportunities for women to contribute, participate and innovate in this ever-expanding and dynamic digital ethos.

Gender barriers and suggestions in India’s digital revolution

Lack of access:

• There is low accessibility in infrastructure, coverage, and smartphone penetration, and gender inequality further underpins the low access that women and girls have to digital devices and services.
• Suggestions:
• Enabling smartphone and internet access through wider connectivity and penetration in rural areas.
• Providing affordable solutions and educating households on the benefits of digital access.

Digital illiteracy:

• Inequality in functional literacy also represents the gender digital divide.
• Girls with lower levels of functional literacy often cannot make optimum use of smartphones.
• 59% of women in the age group 15-49 years across urban and rural India have not completed 10 or more years of schooling. (National Family Health Survey)
• Suggestion:
• It needs a big push to fully participate in and learn from the digital world, stay safe online and develop critical and analytical skills.
• Digital education would help to reduce the traditional development gender divide.

Cyber safety and security:

• Lower levels of digital literacy and skills than men, women, and individuals of other non-privileged genders may be more vulnerable to online harassment, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking.
• It reduces or restricts the use of digital technologies by women and girls, further widening the digital divide.

Recommendation to improve digital gender equity

Designing digital solutions to advance gender equity

• The involvement of girls and women in co-creation will accelerate digital adoption and help reduce the digital gender divide and accessibility.

Digital literacy and capacity building:

• Giving early access to digital technology to young women and girls will make them learn and engage in it more productively.
• They absorb new knowledge and skills, reach out socially, and are generally more confident in their endeavors.
• Digital literacy is increasingly seen as essential for employability and has been linked to higher earning potential and new economic opportunities.

Responsible technology:

• Protecting user privacy and data must be a top priority to ensure that technology is not used to perpetuate harmful biases or discrimination against women and girls.
• Technology industry and the government need to collaborate to assure people’s safety in cyberspace.

Government efforts to reduce the digital divide

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan

• It aims to bridge the digital divide.
• It specifically targets our rural population, with 60 million households covered.

National Digital Library for children and adolescents

• It was proposed in the Union budget for 2023-24.
• It will play a pivotal role in narrowing the digital divide and ensuring equitable access to quality education and improvement in digital literacy levels.

Stay Safe Online campaign

• It was a campaign by the ministry of electronics and IT, conceptualized as part of India’s G20 presidency.
• It is another example of the government prioritizing awareness creation of the internet, social media, and digital payment facilities for the benefit of citizens.

The stage for a transformative and gender-equal digital revolution has been set. Encouraging girls and women in the digital revolution would open a wide window of opportunities so that they can aspire to be well-informed, develop more comprehensive worldviews, and make the most of their potential for their benefit and society.