From online learning and digital activism to the rapid expansion of high-paying tech jobs, the digital age has generated unprecedented opportunities for the empowerment of women and girls. But advancing technology is also introducing new forms of inequality and heightened threats to their rights and well-being.听
Women and girls remain underrepresented across the creation, use and regulation of technology. They are less likely to use digital services or enter tech-related careers, and significantly more likely to face online harassment and violence. This limits not only their own digital empowerment but also the transformative potential of technology as a whole鈥攐ver the past decade, women鈥檚 exclusion from the digital sphere has off the GDP of low- and middle-income countries.听听In the face of escalating global crises, we stand at a crossroads: allow technology to widen existing disparities and further concentrate power in the hands of the few, or put it to work on behalf of a safer, more sustainable, more equitable future for all.听听The choices we make today will profoundly impact our path forward. Here are four steps we can take in the right direction.听听
As our daily lives become increasingly digitalized, gender gaps in digital access threaten to leave women and girls even further behind. Though efforts to close these gaps have led to improvements in the gender parity score, the absolute gap between men and women鈥檚 access听. Today, 63 per cent of women have access to the internet, compared to 69 per cent of men. And women are 12 per cent less likely to own a mobile phone, a figure virtually unchanged since before the pandemic.
These global averages don鈥檛 tell the whole story: race, age, disability, socioeconomic status and location all play a role in determining women鈥檚 digital access and use. Marginalized groups such as older women, rural women and women with disabilities face significantly greater barriers to connectivity. In the least developed countries鈥攚here, despite mobile broadband signals covering 76 per cent of the population,听鈥攎en are听听to be within that online minority.
All of which makes clear that bridging access gaps will require more than just better digital infrastructure. Addressing factors like affordability, access to electricity, online privacy and safety, social norms and digital skills and literacy鈥攁ll of which are mediated by gender鈥攚ill be key to getting women meaningfully connected.
No one sector can do this alone: it will take collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society and women鈥檚 organizations, among others. Explicitly working gender and intersectional perspectives into digital plans and policies can help catalyze this kind of cross-sector coordination鈥攁 crucial starting point, given that only half of national information and communications technology (ICT) policies or master plans听today. Successful policy making will also require increased research on barriers to women鈥檚 digital access, as well as data collection on the efficacy of efforts to overcome them.听
But knowing what works isn鈥檛 enough鈥攇overnments need to invest in evidence-based programmes and initiatives. Subsidizing smartphones and laptops for women and girls and incentivizing the provision of low-cost data plans can go a long way in overcoming gendered access barriers. This also applies to digital literacy programmes, which can help give women and girls the skills they need to lead, connect and successfully shape the digital space.
2. Support women and girls in STEM听
Today, women remain a minority in both STEM education and careers, representing only听听and听听globally. Without equal representation in these fields, women鈥檚 participation in shaping technology, research, investments and policy will remain critically limited. The same challenges apply to their access to fast-growing and high-paying careers鈥攁n inequality compounded by the fact that, as tech and digital innovation disrupt industries, women will bear the brunt of job losses.
Stereotypes about who is, and isn鈥檛, well suited to STEM play a major role in discouraging girls from entering these fields. These beliefs become a self-perpetuating cycle: without encouragement in tech fields, girls end up lacking necessary knowledge鈥攖hus making them less likely to express interest.
Those who do make it into tech often face an actively hostile environment, with a significant pay gap () and considerably lower rates of promotion (听Nearly half () report experiencing workplace harassment. A whopping听听say they are considering leaving the workforce altogether due to the treatment they鈥檝e received in the sector.
Past efforts to increase women鈥檚 representation have often focused on women鈥檚 supposed disinterest in STEM fields, rather than on the systems that exclude them. That messaging has actually backfired, fueling the idea that women don鈥檛 have real interest or talent in STEM. Effective solutions must target both the barriers that force women out of STEM jobs and those that keep girls from pursuing them in the first place.
Providing universal broadband access for teachers, students and schools鈥攁nd ensuring digital literacy for its users鈥攃an increase girls鈥� exposure to STEM, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds. Digital learning provides new opportunities to adapt educational environments and curricula to the needs of girls and students from marginalized groups.
Working to eliminate gender biases from schools is also key, as is ensuring that girls have access to women mentors in STEM fields with whom they can identify. And connecting STEM to other disciplines鈥攁s well as emphasizing its potential applications to societal challenges, which research shows is a main driver of girls鈥� career choices鈥攃an help increase girls鈥� interest as well.听
To help women succeed in a changing labour market, targeted reskilling and upskilling programmes should be created, focusing especially on groups most in danger of being left behind. And expanded labour regulations are needed to ensure that labour market transitions improve the position of women, rather than simply reproducing existing inequalities. This includes a living minimum wage, regulations against pay discrimination, and social protection systems that address, for example, discrepancies between the unpaid care burdens of women and men.
3. Create tech that meets the needs of women and girls听
Technology reflects its creators. So when women and girls are left out of tech and innovation spaces, it鈥檚 no surprise that digital tools fail to meet their needs. Severe underinvestment in, for example, digital tools that promote sexual and reproductive health is the natural outcome of decision-making processes that systematically exclude women鈥檚 voices.听听
At the same time, digital access gaps mean women produce less data than men, and a lack of data disaggregation leads to unequal representation in data sets. This has major downstream effects on machine learning and AI enabled service delivery. A听听of 133 AI systems from 1988 to today found that 44.2 per cent displayed gender bias, with 25.7 per cent exhibiting both gender and racial bias鈥攚hich led to lower service quality, unequal resource distribution and the reinforcement of harmful stereotypes.听听
This problem has gone largely unchecked due to the inadequacy of tech sector oversight. Even where ethical frameworks have been developed, they lack safeguards鈥攁nd since regulation has been largely left to companies themselves, many have ignored or underinvested in harm mitigation strategies.听听
Creating more inclusive, less biased tech starts with design and regulation processes rooted in human rights. That means centering the voices of marginalized and vulnerable women, as well as social and behavioral scientists and human rights experts, in the design of new digital tools. It also means explicitly addressing tensions between the exercise of different rights online, such as freedom of expression vs. right to safety. And it means making ethical frameworks enforceable by grounding them in international human rights standards and norms.听听
Regulatory reform can鈥檛 be left up to the tech sector. Governments need to step in to outline companies鈥� responsibilities, mandate monitoring mechanisms such as gender impact assessments, and ensure data use transparency through mechanisms like mandatory artificial intelligence audits. At the international level, digital governance will be crucial to ensuring that developing technology is aligned with the common good rather than just with the interests of multinational corporations.
4. Address technology-facilitated gender-based violence
Despite its prevalence and gravity, there is no universally accepted definition of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, but it can be understood as any act of violence committed, assisted or aggravated by the use of ICT on the basis of gender. Though such acts often take place in the virtual sphere, they result in tangible harm鈥攑hysical, sexual, psychological, social, political and/or economic. This kind of violence doesn鈥檛 end when women log off: there鈥檚 a continuum between real-world and online violence, with technology helping to perpetuate and heighten surveillance, trafficking and other forms of abuse.
In the online sphere, gender-based violence also forces women and girls to self-censor and deplatform, limiting their ability to engage and participate virtually. As social media becomes an increasingly crucial space for both socializing and organizing, it has also become a key site of gendered disinformation, misinformation, sexist hate speech and more鈥攁ll of which undermine women鈥檚 online expression and movement.
For women who face intersecting forms of discrimination, including women of color, women with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ people, the risk is even higher. Same with women in the public eye鈥攋ournalists, politicians and women鈥檚 rights defenders, for example鈥攚ho face significantly higher levels of hate speech and other violence than their male counterparts.
Beyond the lack of a formal definition, coherent global norms and standards on online-gender based violence do not exist. As tech generates new forms of violence鈥攕uch as nonconsensual deepfakes鈥攅xisting legal frameworks cease to apply. And online violence (like all forms of gender-based violence) is seriously underreported, with听.
All of which is to say, action is urgently needed. Expanded legal frameworks must be developed in coordination with women鈥檚 organizations and centered around human rights and survivor-informed approaches. Policy makers should coordinate with the justice sector, civil society organizations, the media and other sectors to develop coherent responses and strategies for mitigation. And design processes based in human rights can improve reporting and moderation systems, helping to take the onus off victims.
Finally, teaching digital citizenship can help cover issues of online violence鈥攚hile also instilling empathy and ethical digital media use, and teaching boys and men to become advocates for gender equality.
