WTD 2025: Need for multi-faceted strategies to reduce digital gender divide in India
The theme for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) 2025 references the immediate need to address gender inequality in digital spaces, so that women can also benefit from and contribute to digital transformation.
The Union Budget 2025-26 indicates a new dawn for rural India's transformation prioritising and ensuring a dignified life for the people of rural India. The budget acknowledges the gender divide and outlines a strong emphasis on gender inclusion, focussing on key areas such as, employment generation, women empowerment and infrastructure development in rural India. A prime example of that would be the
Bharatnet
Project, which aims to provide unrestricted access to broadband connectivity, ensuring internet access in rural areas. The increased budgetary allocation for rural digital development can be strategised to prioritise digital literacy, specifically targeting women.
Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide in Digital India
Under the Digital India Initiative, the government has taken several initiatives to connect not only metros but also tier 2 and tier 3 cities as well as rural and remote areas. As per reports, India has over 650 million smartphone users and more than 1 billion internet subscribers, led by the roll-out of 5G and 4G networks, significantly improving internet speeds and connectivity in urban and rural areas.
Yet, India continues to have the largest number of unconnected persons that include women, the rural population and children. The exclusion is deeply intertwined with socio-economic factors such as existing disparities in access and opportunities, compounded by issues of limited digital literacy and low per capita income, creating formidable obstacles in the inclusion and empowerment of women in the transformation of digital technologies.
Efforts to Empower Women through Technology
Technology has democratised access to education and skill development, ensuring women can now acquire new skills and pursue advanced degrees. The eSanjeevani programme has proved one of the most successful undertakings as it has improved quality of life by facilitating quicker, cheaper and high-quality health services, including enabling patients in rural/isolated communities to get outpatient services within the confines of their homes to provide safer 'provider-to-patient' consultations.
Digital Tools facilitate Financial Inclusion of Women
According to a Women's World Banking report, services like Unified Payment Interface (UPI) have significantly improved women's access to essential services and opportunities, especially by offering a transformative opportunity for women entrepreneurs, fostering financial inclusion.
The government has implemented several other initiatives to ensure empowerment of women and girls in educational, social, economic and political spheres through various schematic interventions aiming for digital literacy. The
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan
under Digital India programme, focuses on digital literacy training, enabling rural citizens to operate computers, send/receive emails and browse internet to empower women. It aims to bridge the
digital divide
with the rural population including the marginalised sections of society, women and girls by covering 6 crore rural households.
At the 2023 UN Session, India announced that about 123 million girls are enrolled in programmes that promote science and technology education in schools, while other initiatives seek to train rural women and those from marginalised segments of society to use mobile phones and other critical tools.
Challenges to Transforming India: Exclusion of Women from Digital Spaces
Internet usage in India has quadrupled in the last decade. However, this wave of progress has not been gender neutral, as women from India continue to face numerous barriers to online access. Cultural norms and systemic discrimination, including casteism, patriarchy, and economic disparity have all played a role in widening the gender gap in digital access and literacy.
As per the Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024, the GSMA reports that mobile phones serve as the primary means of internet access for women in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The report indicates that access to mobile internet has had a transformative effect on women, enabling connectivity and access to essential services such as healthcare, education, and financial resources. The data reports a 14% gender gap in access to mobile internet for women and men in LMICs.
However, in the South Asian region, the gender gap is at 32%. As per the United Nations World Population Prospects 2024, statistics indicate that in an LMIC like India, where women form about 48% of the population, their participation in the growth of digital economy is nearly half as that of men, especially in rural India, owing to a pronounced divide in access to the internet for men over women.
Opportunities for an Inclusive Digital Transformation
To reduce the digital gender gap, a multi-faceted approach is required. The Bharatnet initiative has ensured internet connectivity to even remote villages and rural areas. Initiative like the Digital Subscriber Line network equipment helps deliver high-speed internet connectivity, enabling the delivery of digital literacy and skill training initiatives.
In 2023, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women estimated that about $1 trillion could be added to the GDP of a lower-middle-income nation by ending the exclusion of women from the digital sphere.
2.6 billion people, mostly women and girls, remain unconnected due to gaps in access, affordability, and lack of digital skills. Bridging this divide is crucial for economic growth, innovation, and sustainable development.
(DISCLAIMER: Views expressed are the author's personal)
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