Leveraging Digital Technologies to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment

Introduction

Despite worldwide advances in digitization over the past decade, many people are still excluded from the digital economy and miss out on the opportunities it provides. This exclusion, referred to as the digital divide—or “the gap between those who can access the dividends and opportunities of the digital economy, and those who cannot”—is particularly pronounced for women. The challenges women face in accessing the digital ecosystem include obtaining formal identification (ID), owning mobile phones, and possessing digital skills, among others. The gender digital divide has serious repercussions at the household level and in broader society. By 2025, developing economies are anticipated to be missing out on $1.5 trillion in GDP because women do not have full access to the digital economy.

While the gender digital divide persists, there is considerable opportunity for change. Through the private sector and government institutions, the United States can contribute significantly to closing the gender digital divide abroad and enabling digital public infrastructure (DPI) for women. Actions the United States can undertake include expanding existing programs, working with partners to enact gender-inclusive laws and regulations, building secure digital ecosystems, and supporting digital literacy initiatives for women.

Gender Gaps in the Digital Ecosystem

Across the digital ecosystem, women are less likely than men to access affordable physical infrastructure (e.g., electricity, internet, and mobile phones) and digital services (e.g., identification documents, digital payments, and e-commerce and e-government). Women are also underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as well as jobs and occupations related to information and communications technology (ICT), such as developing artificial intelligence (AI) and software applications. Overall, they also possess lower digital literacy than men. For more vulnerable women, such as those living in rural areas, from Indigenous groups, or living with disabilities, this divide is even worse; the more challenges women face, the larger the digital divide grows.

Gaps in Accessing Physical Infrastructure

According to the International Energy Agency, approximately 770 million people globally cannot access reliable electricity. This gap in access to electricity is mainly concentrated in Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, women bear a disproportionate burden in terms of reliable access to electricity, forcing them to use traditional energy sources, such as firewood or charcoal, for their households or businesses. Not only does this place strain on women’s time as women have to gather and transport these fuels, but they are also large contributors to indoor air pollution, impacting the health of the women using them. Moreover, 785 million women in the developing world do not have mobile internet access, and approximately 40 percent of women in developing countries do not own a smartphone. The trade-offs and opportunity costs of connecting to the internet or purchasing a device are often much higher for women, who are less likely to receive legal identification at birth and may have reduced control over household resources.

The gender gap in internet usage remains prominent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although women have increased their access to the internet since 2019, there is still significant disparity compared to men (Figure 1). According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are 244 million more men than women using the internet in 2023. Africa has the largest gender digital divide: only 32 percent of women have access to the internet in 2023, compared to 42 percent of men.

In terms of mobile ownership, the same pattern applies to income groups and regions (Figure 2). Regionally, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region have the largest gender gaps in mobile ownership, at 11.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, in 2023

Gaps in Digital Services

Women face similar challenges accessing digital services. According to the Identification for Development (ID4D) data set, approximately 850 million people globally do not have an official ID, and women are a large share of this group (Figure 3). Across Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, the gender gap in ID coverage in 2021 hovered just below 10 percent.

Lack of ID poses a serious barrier for women entering the digital economy, as financial institutions often require a government ID to open and use accounts. When analyzing the data on financial inclusion and digital payments, women also face hurdles in getting credit and making payments, which hampers their ability to finance social and economic activities (Figures 4 and 5). The differences in these indicators for women in low-income countries versus advanced economies are quite stark.

In sum, women in developing countries are more likely than men to lack official government ID, less likely to own smartphones, and more likely to be unbanked or underbanked.¹ This marginalizes women from mainstream economic activities and society at large.

Using Digital Services to Enhance Women’s Economic Empowerment

Providing better access to digital services can be an important enabler for women’s economic empowerment, but it does not necessarily guarantee it. There are other impediments such as social and patriarchal norms that prohibit women from undertaking many economic activities. For example, women may be prohibited from buying a smartphone, using the internet, or using a mobile device in public. These challenges underlie the gender divide, and they generally cannot be solved by introducing a different set of technologies into the ecosystem. 

Nevertheless, there are many examples of how developing countries have used digital services to reach marginalized women. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Togo made emergency digital payments to its citizens, paying more women than men, including those in the informal economy. Because Togo had existing digital infrastructure, the country set up these programs quickly and efficiently (in 10 days), providing much-needed financial support to its citizens. Similarly, the government of India used its Aadhaar identification system to reach over 200 million women and provide emergency financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, India’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana program, which ensures easy access to financial services, has been expanded to focus on women, creating the Jan Dhan Plus program. The program encourages low-income women to save regularly; emphasizes the rewards of saving by linking it to access to microcredit, insurance, and pensions; and improves the gender sensitivity of banking agents. As of April 2023, Jan Dhan Plus had engaged over 12 million female customers, increasing their average savings by over 50 percent in just five months and doubling enrollments in microinsurance and pension schemes.

Beyond financial inclusion, digital services may also be applied to other sectors—for example, in agriculture. Women are responsible for 60–80 percent of agricultural production in the developing world, yet they routinely lack access to relevant farming information and financial assistance. It is estimated that if women-owned farms had equal access to inputs (such as farm equipment, livestock, diversified seed options, fertilizers, and digital technologies), they would increase sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural output by 10–20 percent. Through digital tools, women can obtain information such as weather data, policy updates, and communications on their legal rights. With access to weather data, women farmers can better assess when, where, and what to plant. Likewise, if women can access information on laws, regulations, and other policies, they will have more tools to protect and grow their businesses.

Building Digital Tools with Women, for Women

As noted above, providing women with these technological tools will not automatically spur gender equity and economic activity. Women must be included in the development of the digital ecosystem so that these tools better serve their needs and are relevant to their daily lives. Digital technologies can empower women, but when they are not designed around women’s experiences and needs, they risk “growing different divides and exacerbating different challenges.”² Excluding women in the design and implementation of DPI has many downsides, including replicating or integrating biases and offering digital products that ultimately are ineffective for women. According to Tim Wood, chief partnerships officer of Co-Develop, a nonprofit fund that helps partners adopt safe and inclusive shared DPI at scale, “In the architecture of DPI, gender equity must be more than an afterthought; it must be the blueprint guiding every decision. We have an opportunity now to address the gender inequalities of the physical world in the digital landscape.”

When women are excluded from designing and developing digital tools, biases may unintentionally be introduced into the system. The analysts that train these language models might overrepresent certain demographic characteristics over others (e.g., white men under 40) and thus inadvertently skew the programming away from women. When programs make decisions based on these AI models—from credit limits to healthcare and employment decisions—women might miss out, even in an advanced country such as the United States. As an example, in 2019, Apple’s digital credit card assigned different credit limits to women and men regardless of limited differences in salary, debt, and credit scores. In one case, one man’s line of credit was approximately 20 times larger than his wife’s, and customer service employees were unable to explain the AI-generated decision. Another example comes from Thailand, where the national digital ID system has led to some trafficking survivors being excluded from financial institutions because their data include a history involving human trafficking.

In addition, women need to feel confident and safe in the digital world so that they can realize the benefits and mitigate the risks of digitization. This implies that digital infrastructure must be built in such a way that women’s privacy and data are protected. As women gain access to digital services and interact with cyberspace, they need to trust the digital ecosystem. For this reason, the cybersecurity of the system is paramount: women and other vulnerable communities could fall victim to bad actors if DPI systems do not have strong security protocols. A survey conducted by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) showed that women in Colombia, Ghana, and Uganda reported greater fear of data privacy leaks than men.

In addition, women should be better equipped with digital literacy, ranging from basic skills, such as knowing how to use hardware, software, and the internet, to more advanced skills in ICT professions, such as computer programming and network management. Many jobs related to innovations such as AI, big data, natural-language processing, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT), software development, and digital entrepreneurship require advanced digital skills. However, only 22 percent of AI and data science professionals are women. As discussed, this underrepresentation may affect the type of digital services provided to women.

Expanding Digital Services for Women: The Role of the United States

Given the opportunities DPI presents for women’s economic empowerment, there is growing momentum globally to strengthen programs in developing countries. The United States has been a champion of digitization and can become a leader and game changer in the DPI space. Working with the private sector, U.S. government agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) can provide technical expertise to build a more gender-inclusive DPI in the developing world. By encouraging the adoption of secure, ethical, and inclusive digital systems, there are a number of ways the United States can leverage its assistance to create women-centered digital ecosystems:

• Scale up existing programs to close the gender digital divide. S. government agencies can directly support women’s empowerment by giving them access to digital technologies. Existing programs that could be scaled up include USAID’s Women in the Digital Economy Fund and Closing the Gender Digital Divide Toolkit. Most recently, the USTDA partnered with technology company CSquared in April 2024 on a grant to prepare a feasibility study for open-access digital infrastructure across Africa, seeking to provide hundreds of thousands of Africans with affordable broadband access for the first time.
• Work with partners to enact gender-inclusive laws and regulations. Programs to close the digital gender gap must also complement efforts to address legal and policy barriers that disproportionately affect women. Working with international partners and local governments, the United States can support policies that recognize and protect women’s rights to access digital tools. For example, the U.S. Digital Transformation with Africa (DTA) initiative is a whole-of-government approach across 17 U.S. government departments and the public and private sectors to accelerate digital transformation in coordination with the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020–2030). Through the DTA’s three pillars—the digital economy and infrastructure, building human capital development, and creating a digital enabling environment—the United States invested $82 million in 2023 to support digital transformation in Africa. In addition, the United States can partner with multilateral programs, such as the ID4D initiative, and developing country governments to build out ID infrastructure on the ground. Despite not having a unified digital (or otherwise) ID platform, U.S. agencies can work with partners to ensure that digital ID technology remains fair, free, and interoperable.³
• Build secure digital ecosystems. Moreover, the United States can help countries develop digital ecosystems that people trust. By scaling up partner-country capacity to combat cyber threats, the United States can work toward supporting transparent and interoperable data-sharing platforms. Working with the private sector and local civil society organizations, the U.S. government can build the technical capacity of local actors so that digital payment systems prioritize equity, security, and transparency. For example, USAID partnered with the Philippines’ financial sector and its central bank to increase digital payments in the country, growing from 1 percent of all transactions in 2013 to 11 percent in 2018, or roughly $24 billion.

• Support digital literacy initiatives abroad. Not only do digital platforms need to be secure, but women must also be equipped with adequate digital skills to interact in cyberspace. The United States can play a bigger role in this area. The private sector could be a valuable partner by providing funding and expertise to educational institutions, such as vocational schools and higher education institutions, to provide scholarships and courses for women and girls in ICT. Below are several examples of programs the United States provides abroad:

  • DigiFemmes, a partnership between the government of Côte d’Ivoire and Microsoft, has provided approximately 3,500 women-owned or women-led businesses with the digital skills needed to grow, including digital data management, coding, and leadership training. Over $4 million has been invested in the program thus far, and the MCC plans to extend this program to additional countries in the near future.
  • Through the Women in the Digital Economy Fund, partners have committed funding in support of digital literacy programs. The U.S. International Development Finance Organization (DFC) has pledged to finance $5 million in debt to support digital literacy trainings, among other initiatives, in India. By 2026, the Inter-American Development Bank has pledged to provide $15 million to empower women in Latin America and the Caribbean with digital literacy skills.
  • Under the DTA’s second pillar, human capital development, the United States is working to expand digital literacy projects across government agencies. By emphasizing women and other marginalized communities, the DTA aims to increase equitable access to digital literacy training.
  • The U.S. Department of Commerce’s two-part Africa Youth Summit, organized with the Telecommunications Training Institute, is designed to provide young African entrepreneurs with the tools, skills, and relationships necessary to thrive in the technology field.

  Conclusion

  As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the United States has a unique opportunity to empower women in this space. By taking concrete steps to address the gender digital divide, equip women entrepreneurs, and foster secure digital environments, the United States can catalyze change on a global scale. However, the full benefits of digitization cannot be achieved without a coordinated strategy to include women throughout the design and implementation processes. Women must have a seat at the table in the digital transformation journey so that they can shape their economic destinies.

  Romina Bandura is a senior fellow with the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Madeleine McLean is a program coordinator and research assistant with the Project on Prosperity and Development at CSIS.

  The authors would like to thank Salome Girgvliani for her excellent research support. This paper also benefited immensely from the insights of a CSIS event held on March 5, 2024.

  This paper is made possible through the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.