A recent UN report shows that there are currently 200 million
fewer women online than men, and the gap could grow to 350 million within the
next three years if action is not taken.
According to a report released by the UN Broadband Commission
Working Group on Broadband and Gender, around the world, women are coming
online later and more slowly than men. Of the world’s 2.8 billion internet
users, 1.3 billion are women, compared with 1.5 billion men.
While the gap between male and female users is relatively
small in OECD nations, it widens rapidly in the developing world, where
expensive, ‘high status’ ICTs like computers are often reserved for use by men.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the report’s authors estimate that there is
only half the number of women connected as men.
Worldwide, women are also on average 21 percent less likely
to own a mobile phone – representing a mobile gender gap of 300 million,
equating to USD 13 billion in potential
missed revenues for the mobile sector.
Report authors also believe that today’s untapped pool of
female users could also represent a market opportunity for device makers,
network operators, and software and app developers that might equal or even
outstrip the impact of large emerging markets like China or India.
In developing countries, every 10 percent increase in access
to broadband translates to a 1.38 percent growth in GDP. That means that
bringing an additional 600 million women and girls online could boost global
GDP by as much as USD 18 billion.
The report also outlines the importance of encouraging more
girls to pursue ICT careers. By 2015, it is estimated that 90 percent of formal
employment across all sectors will require ICT skills. Professionals with
computer science degrees can expect to earn salaries similar to doctors or
lawyers – yet even in developed economies, women now account for fewer than 20
percent of ICT specialists.
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