Digital for Women
Digital4Women: how to enable women empowerment in Africa through mainstreaming digital technologies and services in EU development programmes
Since the end of the 20th century, lives and societies have increasingly become digitalised with internet, digital technologies and tools as drivers for sustainable development. Their “leapfrog” potential has put the topic at the core of the development agenda, notably of emerging markets, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa where mobile connections have leapt to 475 million compared to just 12.3 million fixed line connections. To a lesser extent, access to internet has also increased significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa at the fastest rate worldwide, jumping from 2.1% in 2005 to 28.2% in 2019. According to GSMA, in 2018 mobile technologies and services generated 8.6% of GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa.
However, to unleash its potential, the digital divide, known as the gap in terms of accessibility and use of digital technologies needs to be carefully considered and addressed. Furthermore, the gender digital gap is notable in Sub-Saharan Africa as women are 13% less likely to own a mobile phone and the gender digital gap in mobile internet usage is 34%. Women in the Sub-Saharan region face complex and interlinked inequalities and barriers7 that hamper access to mobile phones and the internet including: the cost of devices and data, lack of awareness and understanding of the internet, lack of digital skills, a perception of irrelevance, concerns around safety and security, and/or lack of access to infrastructure, such as electricity or quality network coverage, particularly for women living in rural areas. These factors disproportionally affect women and when grouped with structural and broader socio-economic constraints (low education, literacy and economic dependence), further hinder women’s access to the internet and digital technologies.
As many countries are experiencing a push towards a “digital economy”, the digital skills and literacy gender gaps need to be addressed. Despite significant investments in digital entrepreneurship, there remains a need to focus on job creation and employment opportunities through tech-enabled businesses as well as on the enabling environment, specifically for youth and women, to ensure that they are not left behind. To address the digital and gender gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa, the EU established the Digital for Development (D4D) Agenda in Africa. The four core areas of work for digitalisation and international partnerships: (i) Governance, Policy and regulatory frameworks, (ii) Connectivity - accelerating the achievement of universal access to affordable broadband">
With these policy structures in min, this study aims to identify the key factors and trends regarding gender and digital in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically barriers that are holding back women from accessing the opportunities of digitalisation. This report analyses the trends, policies frameworks and ecosystems as well as challenges and opportunities concerning digital and women’s empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is followed by a review of good practices and lessons learnt as well as current EC initiatives to inform the set of policy and programming recommendations. The analysis at a regional and national level is based on desk research, clustering of international gender and digital Indicators, stakeholder interviews in shortlisted countries and the EC digital project database.