Women and the Digital Economy: What Does it Take to Reach Women at the Last Mile?

• Women and the Digital Economy: What Does it Take to Reach Women at the Last Mile?
• Date: Monday, February 26, 2024
• Co-organisers: Inclusion Economics India Centre at the Institute for Financial Management and Research, and Yale Inclusion Economics
• Location: India International Centre, 40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Gardens, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi, Delhi 110003, India
• Link to the agenda

For the past decade, Inclusion Economics India Centre (IEIC) and Inclusion Economics at Yale University have engaged in rigorous research to tackle a variety of challenges women in India face, ranging from limited jobs in rural areas to women’s low bank account ownership and financial inclusion. 

As we step into 2024, India has made impressive progress in improving women’s opportunities: For example, it has entirely closed its gender gap in financial access, and over 282 million women now have their bank accounts, equivalent to men’s ownership rates. Nearly all women have digital IDs, and increasingly, women use mobile phones to access finance, information, and opportunities, as well as to connect with other people. 

Yet despite this progress, significant digital gender gaps continue to exist – where Indian women are still 40% less likely than men to access mobile internet. What can we do to close these gaps? 

With this in-person event, we envisioned a two-fold approach. One, we shared findings from research aimed at understanding how to bridge India’s digital gender gaps. Two, we convened cross-sectoral leaders and decision-makers to reflect on insights and discuss future priority areas of research and intervention to close last-mile gender gaps in digital access and improve women’s digital financial access.

Speakers included Dr Charity Troyer Moore (Yale University),  Dr Simone Schaner (University of Southern California), Safiya Husain (Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Karya Inc.), Emma Stanton (Director, South Asia, Center for Inclusive Growth, Mastercard), and Kamya Chandra (Chief Strategy Officer, Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure), among others. 

Please contact Ayushi Khare, Senior Policy and Capacity Building Manager at IEIC, at ayushi.khare@ifmr.ac.in or ieic@ifmr.ac.in with questions.