This article was first published on the New Vision website on April 27, 2023
By Jackie Achan
Around 90 per cent of adolescent girls and young women in low-income countries do not use the internet, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online, a new UNICEF report finds.
The report issued on International Day of Girls in ICT on Thursday found that girls are being left behind in an increasingly digital and connected world.
It says while advancing access to the internet is important, it is insufficient for digital skills training.
For instance, in most countries analysed, the share of youth with access to the internet at home is much higher than that of youth with digital skills.
However, girls are the least likely to have the opportunities to develop the skills needed for 21st-century learning and employment, according to the report.
On average across 32 countries and territories, girls are 35 per cent less likely than their male peers to have digital skills, including simple activities like copying or pasting files or folders, sending emails, or transferring files.
The root barriers are far deeper than a lack of access to the internet, according to the report.
The findings suggest that educational and family environments play a critical role in the gender digital divide.
For example, even within the same home, girls are far less likely than boys to access and be able to make full use of the internet and digital technologies.
Also among 41 countries and territories included in the analysis, households are much more likely to provide mobile phones for boys than girls.
It was as well found that barriers to accessing opportunities to higher learning and the labour market, pervasive discriminatory gender norms and stereotypes, and concerns over online safety may further restrict girls’ digital inclusion and skills development.
The report also argues that even when girls have equitable access to gain foundational reading and math skills and perform on par or better than their male peers it does not always translate to digital skills.
“To break the barriers holding girls back, they need early exposure and access to technology, digital and life skills training, and efforts that address harmful gender stereotypes, especially within families, and online violence,” the report says.
The UNICEF Director of Education Robert Jenkins said closing the digital divide between girls and boys is about more than just having access to the internet and technology, it’s about empowering girls to become innovators, creators, and leaders.
“If we want to tackle gender gaps in the labour market, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields, we must start now by helping young people, especially girls, gain digital skills,” Jenkins says
The UN children’s organisation UNICEF is calling on governments and partners to close the gender divide and ensure that girls have the opportunities to succeed in a digital world.
It has recommended teaching of digital skills equally to girls and boys in and out of school, including community programmes, protecting girls’ safety online through virtual safe spaces, policies and laws, and education.
It has also recommended promoting girls’ access to peer learning, mentoring, internships and job shadowing in the digital and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) world.
The UNICEF report Bridging the Digital Divide: Challenges and an Urgent Call for Action for Equitable Digital Skills Development takes a close look at the gender digital divide among young people aged 15-24 years.
It analysed available data on internet use, mobile phone ownership, and digital skills in mostly low, lower-middle and some middle-income economies.
It, however, says more gender-disaggregated data is needed to better monitor, understand, and work toward digital inclusion.
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