Bridging the Digital Gender Divide in Chhattisgarh

Digital technology is increasingly crucial in promoting access to economic opportunity and vital government services. This is especially true in the many low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries where the vast majority of Internet users connect through mobile devices. Yet many women in India remain excluded. Can a large-scale, government-run, smartphone distribution program targeting women close these persistent digital gender gaps?

Research to increase women’s economic engagement

Digital technology serves as a portal for accessing information, markets, services, and job opportunities. Especially since the outbreak of Covid-19, digital technology has played a vital role in pandemic recovery for countries worldwide. However, while smartphone and mobile Internet access have expanded in recent years, persistent mobile access gender gaps in some parts of the world threaten to leave women behind. Pre-existing gender norms that create gaps in education and affect the social acceptability of women using phones may perpetuate those gaps, limiting the ways in which mobile phones and Internet access can improve women’s opportunities.

In a multi-year policy-research engagement, researchers at Inclusion Economics at Yale University, in collaboration with Inclusion Economics India Centre, explore how access to mobile technology influences economic livelihoods, access to (mis)information, health outcomes, and more. Leveraging program design to conduct a large-scale evaluation, the team examines the impact of increased access to mobile technology on the digital gender gap, and subsequent impacts on economic activity, gender norms, access to information and misinformation in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and more. This study provides valuable information on the efficacy of addressing the cost barriers for digital inclusion.

Highlights

Indian women gathered in a circle using a mobile phone. — EPoD Harvard Flickr

Related Publications

A Tough Call: Understanding Barriers to and Impacts of Women’s Mobile Phone Adoption in India

Today in India, 71% of men own mobile phones, but only 38% of women do. In this report researchers identify the leading barriers to Indian women’s use of mobile phones, compare the importance of these barriers, and determine directions for further research into how to reduce them.

A_Tough_Call.pdf

Mor Awaaz Fact Sheets

Mor Awaaz is a phone-based service for women, developed by a team of researchers from Yale University, Harvard University, University of Warwick, University of Southern California and Duke University, as well as EPoD India at LEAD. Its mission is to empower women as changemakers in their homes and communities by creating a dynamic information-sharing loop between women and the state government. In these two fact sheets, researchers identify women's levels of awareness of Covid-19 and anemia.

Mor Awaaz fact sheet - COVID19 awareness among rural women and frontline health workers.pdf

Mor Awaaz fact sheet - anemia awareness among rural women.pdf