Introduction
Introduction
In 2016, an estimated 3.9 billion people worldwide lacked access to the
internet.18 This gap persists, despite widespread increases in basic availability—
for example, 95 percent of the global population live in an area covered by
a basic 2G mobile-cellular network.19 This gap, together with interrelated
disparities in ICT skills, usage patterns, and both real and perceived benefits
of ICTs, is known as the digital divide. As ICTs increasingly mediate both
participation in and benefits of development processes—from interactive
pedagogy and online media to employability skills and health information—
those who lack ICT access, skills, and benefits face additional obstacles to their
personal and community development.
“The importance of ICT to
both economic and social
development explains the
priority of bridging what
has come to be known as
the ‘digital divide.’ This
is, in fact, a whole series
of interlocking ‘divides’—
the gaps that separate
segments of society as
well as whole nations into
those who are able to take
advantage of the new ICT
opportunities and those
who are not.”
—OECD, Schooling for Tomorrow
Furthermore, more women—an estimated 250 million more worldwide—are offline than
men.20 The global gender digital divide is the measurable gap between men and women
related to ICT access, skills, and benefits, as both consumers and producers of digital
products and services. In 2013, Intel estimated that closing the gender digital divide would
boost global GDP by $4 to 5 billion USD.21 Yet the gap continues to expand globally,22
making it imperative to improve understanding of how ICTs are becoming yet another
obstacle—enforced through policies, practices, and norms—that limits women’s and girls’
empowerment and constrains progress toward gender equality.
18
19
20
21
22
ITU, ICT Facts and Figures 2016.
Ibid.
ITU, Connecting the Unconnected.
Intel, Women and the Web.
ITU, ICT Facts and Figures 2016.
Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment
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