In today’s technology-saturated societies, the ability to leverage digital technology is increasingly indispensable to an individual’s well-being, on the same plane of necessity as numeracy and literacy. Without an ability to control technology, people risk being controlled by it, or isolated from local, national and global communities.
Despite this importance women and girls are being left behind. Globally, gender gaps in digital skills are growing – despite at least a decade of national and international efforts to close them.
The POLICY PAPER of I’d blush if I could is comprised of three chapters that examine the roots of these skills divides and put forward 15 actionable recommendations, drawing on lessons learned from around the world.
CHAPTER 1 delineates the severity of the digital skills gender gap, providing evidence that business-as-usual approaches to education are unlikely to narrow this gap and may widen it further.
CHAPTER 2 answers the often-ignored question of why digital skills matter for women and girls. It explains the urgency of the gaps outlined in Chapter 1 and details the necessity of investments to develop the digital skills of women and girls.
CHAPTER 3 synthesizes large bodies of literature to offer recommendations for interventions. While all approaches must be tailored for specific contexts and no solution is a panacea, this section gives advice to policy-makers and others involved in the design and implementation of gender-responsive and gender-transformative (see Gender Equality Markers) digital skills programmes.