Executive Summary Executive Summary Ensuring that women and girls engage in the digital world is fundamental to Myanmar’s democratic and economic growth. Yet women are 28% less likely IREX INSIGHT than men to own a mobile phone, the primary means of internet access in the Digital inclusion is fundamental country, and experience related disparities in digital skills and use. To better to Myanmar’s democratic and understand this gap, IREX conducted a first-of-its-kind political economy analysis economic growth—yet the extent of Myanmar’s gender digital divide. The report offers a nuanced view of who is to which women and girls are excluded and how, with tailored, practical recommendations to narrow the divide. currently excluded is neither fully Myanmar is currently undergoing a technological revolution concurrent with systemic political and economic change. As the country transitions to a democratic, market-based acknowledged nor appreciated as a brake on development. economy, there has been a great deal of optimism about the potential for information and communication technology (ICT)1 to optimize the positive impact of people-centered reforms in Myanmar. Yet the nearly unprecedented pace of adoption of mobile ICT devices2 is uneven across gender, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic lines, which begs the question: what does this sea change in interconnectedness mean for Myanmar’s women and girls, particularly those belonging to marginalized groups? This research report examines the extent to which nuanced evidence exists for genderbased differences in ICT access, digital skills, and benefits derived from ICTs among the diverse population of Myanmar and, in turn, gauges stakeholder awareness of how such differences may exacerbate existing disparities in development outcomes such as health, employment, and education.3 Applying a political economy analysis (PEA) through a gender lens, the research reveals how deeply ingrained gender-based power dynamics, roles, and expectations influence individual differences noted in ownership, usage, and benefits as well as institutional incentives—or lack thereof—to close the gap. Global Context There is a direct correlation between systemic uptake of information and communication technologies (referred to as “networked readiness”) and GDP,4 and the United Nations and other institutions have clearly articulated a link between ICTs and all seventeen of the UN Sustainable Development goals.5 While ICTs in general and internet access in particular are not a panacea, they are a critical component of sustainable and equitable economic and social development. ICTs consist of hardware, software, networks, and media for collection, storage, processing, transmission, and presentation of information (voice, data, text, images). See World Bank Group, ICTs and MDGs: A World Bank Group Perspective, December 2003. 2 Mobile phones are the most widely available form of access to ICTs in Myanmar. Household mobile phone ownership jumped from 2 percent in 2012 (ITU) to 83 percent in 2016, while those who had never used a phone decreased from 31 percent in 2015 to 9 percent in 2016. Helani Galpaya, Ayesha Zainudeen, Suthaharan Perumpalam, Gayani Hurulle, Htaike Htaike Aung, and Phyu Phyu Thi, “Mobile Phones, Internet, Information and Knowledge: Myanmar,” LIRNEasia, January 2, 2017. 3 The Global Libraries program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation data dashboard has extensive impact data related to public-access computers at public libraries in seventeen countries. See glatlas.org. 4 World Economic Forum, Global Information Technology Report (Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2016). 5 Ericcson & Columbia University Earth Institute, ICTs & SDGs: How Information and Communications Technology Can Accelerate Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (Stockholm: Ericsson, 2016); International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Measuring the Information Society Report 2016 (Geneva: ITU, 2016). 1 “4G mobile telephone services are being rolled out across [Myanmar] at a pace unmatched in the rest of the world. This phenomenon alone could contribute more to a successful transition than any other single policy reform.” —Lex Rieffel, “Aung San Suu Kyi’s New Government,” Brookings Institution, March 2016 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 3