Significance of women-led Digital solutions

Significance of women-led Digital solutions
 

News: The theme for International Women’s Day 2023 is ‘DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.

Digitial Disparity (UNICEF Report)

90% of jobs in world today have some form of Digital component
In Developing country, only 41% of women have access to internet compared to 53% of men
Women are 20% less likely to own smartphone

 Another report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that the gender gap in internet use is widening. Software development remains a male-dominated field, with women comprising only 15% of software designers.
 Data on the use of the internet in India indicates that in comparison with 58% male internet users, female users are only 42% (ICUBE 2020).
 

Importance of Digital literacy:
 There are vast opportunities for girls and women to power India’s digital economy and benefit from it. We have the world’s largest young population, and women and girls constitute almost half of it.
 The Food safety for Mid-Day Meals (FoSafMDM) application by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with the Governments of Odisha and Rajasthan has rolled out technology-based training modules This helps in strengthening the capacity of the community in ensuring that proper hygiene and safety measures are followed so that children reap the full benefits of the nutrition that these school meals offer.
 Young women known as ‘Digital Sakhis’ from Madhya Pradesh are upturning discriminatory social norms through the use of smartphones.
 

Way Forward
 In the current context, digital literacy for women is a necessity if India wants to achieve the ultimate goal of gender equality.
 Women20—the G20’s official engagement platform to promote gender equity—identifies “bridging the gender digital divide' as one of its five priorities that need to be mainstreamed as part of the G20 agenda this year.