数字性别鸿沟

The Digital Gender Divide:Women in Latin America and theCaribbean in the Digital EraPublic Disclosure Authorized CONTEXT likely to receive digital tech training, feel confident in their skills,or work in the digital sector. Additionally, women in LAC expressgreater concerns about online privacy, security, reliability ofinformation, scams, and harmful content exposure. In addition,women face greater exposure to automation compared to men.And in countries with significant gender digital divides, womenemployed in positions conducive to artificial intelligence mayencounter barriers to effectively utilizing this technology (Gmyreket al., 2024). From 2018 to 2022, household access to home internet in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (LAC) increased from 50.7 to 68.4percent, with higher access rates in urban areas (ITU, 2023).In most countries of LAC, there are pronounced disparities inaccess to the internet between poor and non-poor households(World Bank, 2024). There are notable gender disparities too.Men generally have better access to the internet than women,but in some countries a higher percentage of women accessesthe internet (Figure 1). The gender gap favoring women(expressed in percentage points) is particularly significant inthe Dominican Republic. Similarly, a noticeable gap in favor ofwomen’s internet usage can be seen in Nicaragua, Paraguay,and Uruguay(Figure 2).Public Disclosure Authorized This digital gender divide has an economic impact on householdsand society. Evidence from various regions indicates thatdigital access enhances women’s labor market opportunities.For example, Viollaz and Winkler (2021) found that in Jordan,a one percentage point increase in internet access results in a0.7 percentage point rise in women’s labor force participation.In Tanzania, high-skilled women in areas with mobile internetcoverage transitioned from self-employed farm work to non-farm employment (Bahia et al., 2023). In Mexico, computer Despite progress, various individual and societal factors stillhinder women’s participation in the online world (IDB, 2022;Alliance for Affordable Internet, 2021; World Bank, 2021).These include household responsibilities, wage gaps, andunaffordable telecom services and devices. Women are lessPublic Disclosure Authorized Figure 1: Men have better access to the internet than women in most,but not all of the countries in the LAC region. access enabled telework and increased women’s labor forceparticipation during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially amongcollege-educated women (Inchauste and Siravegna, 2024). Themacroeconomic implications are significant. For instance, theAlliance for Affordable Internet (2021) estimated that in 2020,the exclusion of women led to a GDP loss of approximately US$126 billion in 32 low and lower-middle income countries(LLMICs). Closing the gender gap in mobile internet usage inlow- and middle-income countries could stimulate economicgrowth, potentially adding $700 billion to global GDP, accordingto GSMA (2019) EVIDENCE OF WHAT WORKS locations predominantly frequented by women, ensuringconvenient operating hours, and providing adequatefemale staff. Furthermore, women’s access to devicesand the internet can be facilitated by encouraging privateMobile Network Operators and retail sellers to implementinstallment plans for devices and adopt affordablepricing models, such as pay-as-you-go schemes basedon actual consumption rather than upfront payments. The World Bank Digital Development Global Practice launched amulti-pillar approach to reduce the digital gender gap. Promisingareas of intervention include: •Expanding the digital infrastructure, encompassingphysical infrastructure, affordability of data and internet-enabled devices, and addressing restrictive socialnorms. Notable interventions involve extending coverageto public access community centers or libraries in language instruction in primary schools. Each participatingschool received basic computer lab infrastructure and fourcomputers with software tailored to support personalizedlearning in language and mathematics. The program positivelyimpacted mathematics test scores. InEcuador, a randomizedcontrol trial evaluated the impact of a Digital PersonalizedLearning Software for mathematics remediation on first-year technical and technological higher education students.The software significantly reduced the likelihood of courserepetition, especially among male students, and greatly improvedstandardized test scores in mathematics for both genders. Thenotable decrease in course repetition for males may be due totheir higher enrollment in STEM disciplines. •Improving access to digital infrastructure and financialservicescan empower low-income women to save,borrow, make payments, and protect against economicshocks. This can be done by increasing access tonational IDs, direct payments to accounts in their names,and ensuring sufficient distribution networks like banksand ATMs with female employees, or su