• WB panel discussion notes social norms and stigma hindering women’s involvement in digital technology
• A need for resource and ideological support from Govts.

Despite the fact that efforts aimed at expanding the digital economy and skills-related opportunities for women and empowering women to contribute more to economies through the increased and meaningful use of digital technologies have resulted in considerable positive impacts, these targets are yet to be achieved, and there is a great deal of more work to be done in this regard. One of the challenges these efforts face in addition to common challenges such as the lack of resources is social norms and stigma with regard to working women and women using digital technologies.

Explaining this situation, a recent panel discussion noted that not only resources related support, but also, ideological changes to encourage and support women, are necessary, and that Governments, among other parties, have a huge responsibility in this regard. This was noted during an online discussion on “Accelerating Gender Equality: Towards a #DigitALL Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka” which was organised by the World Bank (WB) group. It was attended by a number of activists including those from the three aforementioned countries.

State of female earners in South Asia’s digital economy

World Bank Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos noted that in South Asia, digital technologies are expanding digital economies and creating jobs, in turn increasing access to markets, information and services while also allowing businesses and Governments to deliver innovative services to more people. “Digital technology has leveraged innovative country based approaches in delivering health, education, and social protection during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was seen across countries at different levels. The potential of digitisation across South Asia remains untapped, and between men and women, the digital divide remains an ongoing challenge. Women in the region are 36% less likely to use mobile devices and the internet than men. In Sri Lanka, access to mobile money accounts is evident among young adults. However, low digital awareness, skills and trust remain hurdles.”

It was noted that gender participation related gaps in the digital economy include unequal digital literacy and skills, gaps in affordable and reliable access to devices and services, and also increased risks of misinformation and online violence. These challenges have resulted in women not fully utilising digital platforms and also digital opportunities offered to them.

In order to close these gaps, Hadad-Zervos emphasised that it is essential that women have access to digital financial services, especially in a context where there is a huge gap in women using financial services. “Incorporating a gender lens and tackling gender gaps across various aspects of the digital economy is indispensable in building a digital economy across South Asia. As more women transition from the labour market, digital technologies can pave the way for economic opportunities. When it comes to leveraging these opportunities, besides creating safeguards against risks, there are other key actions such as skilling women in basic, intermediary and advanced digital skills, and coaching and mentoring programmes for women entrepreneurs,” Hadad-Zervos further said, pointing out that several steps are underway to support gender inclusion in this context.

In addition, activists from Nepal and the Maldives pointed out that although their efforts have achieved some progress in terms of getting more women to engage in the digital economy, more long-term and immediate steps are necessary in order to make those achievements more sustainable, and also to improve women’s participation in national economies.

Women in the digital economy in Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, Senior Research Manager at the think-tank LIRNEasia Ayesha Zainudeen, explained that Sri Lanka’s situation with regard to increasing women’s participation in the digital economy has improved in recent years, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time both men and women started using digital devices more than they did before the pandemic. Even though this has improved women’s participation in the digital economy, she added that such participation has not increased to an optimum level and that women are facing various challenges in engaging in businesses and working online. Quoting researches that focused on digital platforms and on empowering women in digital economic and financial aspects in Sri Lanka and India, she explained that when it comes to access to digital technologies in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, India and Sri Lanka saw a massive increase in connectivity due to the pandemic. 

Although both countries saw a certain level of decrease in the gender gap with Sri Lanka seeing a gender gap decline of around 7%, which she said is an improvement, still there are challenges that exist. “Access and meaningful access to digital technologies and the economy are two different things. There are still big gaps when it comes to skills. In Sri Lanka, 80% of women and 78% of men who use online platforms could not at the time do a payment or transaction online. Key skills in the digital economy are necessary both as consumers and producers. In terms of work, the digital economy presents job opportunities for women to be empowered digitally and economically,” she said, noting that in Sri Lanka, a number of positive cases of such empowerment have emerged. 

Zainudeen pointed out that despite the said improvements, a number of challenges too have emerged. Researches in this regard have shown skills-related gaps in terms of digitally enabled work environments such as online freelance work and home based businesses conducted or promoted digitally. Women with higher levels of education and skills have shown a higher inclination towards online freelancing work. However, these opportunities as well as women’s empowerment through the same vary depending on the type of such platform. It was also noted that researchers have found that many women work below their skill levels, which she said is a worrying situation in terms of women’s career progression and income earning capabilities. In addition, it was noted that women engaging in businesses or working online has contributed to reinforcing gender norms that could be seen offline. Adding that more women choose to work online due to the flexibility it offers, Zainudeen explained that women working from home have reinforced the women’s mobility related norms such as the idea that women should remain at home. In addition, the strict responsibility of being the caretaker of family members, which was referred to as the “care burden” was also heightened, regarding which she noted that despite being employed or engaged in businesses, women are still expected to fulfil those responsibilities. In this regard, she further explained that the care burden of women has increased, especially due to the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in children staying at home and tending to study online.

The value that has been assigned to online work is another challenge. Entitlements that come with formal, offline jobs not coming with many informal, online jobs was highlighted. In that regard, it was further noted that although women benefit from online jobs such as freelance work, which are extremely important for a country that is dealing with an economic crisis, such jobs not having the same recognition as jobs in the offline world have limited women from progressing beyond that point. She however noted that despite these challenges, many online jobs such as freelance jobs respond positively to individual needs and have therefore, become very gender responsive.

In terms of what sort of improvements are necessary to tackle these issues in Sri Lanka, she added that while investments in digital skills and basic financial literacy for women to run businesses from home are necessary, it is also important to look at how to move women from less lucrative location based jobs to more lucrative non-location based jobs such as freelance jobs. However, according to her, this is not an area in which Sri Lanka has achieved much. The prevailing economic situation which has made obtaining the necessary resources a challenge was highlighted in this context. In addition, Zainudeen added that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in this regard, which include addressing gender gaps as well as social norms and stigma. While long-term efforts are necessary, she added that there are many short-term efforts that could be taken.