Bridging the Digital Gender Divide: Include, Upskill, Innovate

Author(s): Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Publication Details: OECD, 2018

This report explores a range of factors that underpin the digital gender divide, bolsters the evidence base for policy-making and provides policy directions for consideration by all G20 governments. The report finds that hurdles to access, affordability, lack of education as well as inherent biases and sociocultural norms curtail women and girls’ ability to benefit from the opportunities offered by the digital transformation. In addition, girls’ relatively lower educational enrolment in disciplines that would allow them to perform well in a digital world – such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as information and communication technologies – coupled with women’s and girls’ more limited use of digital tools could lead to widening gaps and greater inequality. Coordinated policy action can help narrow the digital gender gap. This requires:

• Raising awareness and tackling gender stereotypes

• Enabling enhanced, safer, and more affordable access to digital tools

• Stronger cooperation across stakeholders to remove barriers to girls' and women’s full participation in the digital world

Read More: https://eulacfoundation.org/system/files/digital_library/2023-07/bridging-the-digital-gender-divide.pdf

SheRISES: Towards Gender Transformation of Indian Cities

Author(s): Smart City Mission, Safetipin Team

Publication Details:  Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, March 2024

The report introduces the She RISES (Responsive, Inclusive, Safe and Equitable Systems) framework. It is a gender assessment framework by which cities can be audited for their responsiveness towards the needs of women and girls in cities. The framework consists of 37 indicators across five pillars: Gender Responsive Policy Initiatives, Public Spaces and Infrastructure, Mobility and Public Transport, Services and Amenities, and Response to Gender-Based Violence.

This framework is tested in six smart cities—Bengaluru, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, and Warangal—that volunteered their data. Each city's performance across the 37 indicators is compared, along with recommendations for becoming gender-responsive and gender transformational. The report may be seen as a pilot study based on which the indicators may be mainstreamed into the periodic city assessments undertaken by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

As India progresses towards its vision of a developed nation (Viksit Bharat). cities must provide access and opportunities for women and girls to thrive and lead this development. Collecting periodic gender-disaggregated data is a crucial early step towards assessing the gaps and making cities work for women and girls – thus fostering a more equitable and prosperous society.

Read More: https://smartcities.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-03/SheRises.pdf

What Matters for Urban Women’s Work

Authors: Shamindra Nath Roy and Partha Mukhopadhyay
Publication Details: Chapter in Oxfam Publication, 2019

This article explores the persistently low female labour force participation (FLFP) in urban India despite economic growth and rising education levels among women. Key barriers include cultural constraints rooted in patriarchal norms, educational mismatches with limited suitable job opportunities, occupational segregation in specific industries, and the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work. To address these challenges, the authors advocate for creating female-friendly industries, offering regular salaried jobs, and providing flexible work options. However, they stress that these measures must be coupled with efforts to dismantle deep-seated patriarchal norms for a transformative impact on women's workforce participation.

Read More: https://cprindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FLFP_Chapter_Oxfam_2019.pdf

Time to Care: Unpaid and Underpaid Care Work and the Global Inequality Crisis

Authors: Clare Coffey, Patricia Espinoza Revollo, Rowan Harvey, Max Lawson, Anam Parvez Butt, Kim Piaget, Diana Sarosi, Julie Thekkudan
Publication Details: Oxfam Briefing Paper - January 2020

Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work – the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women and girls around the world. Tending to others, cooking, cleaning and fetching water and firewood are essential daily tasks for the well-being of societies, communities and the functioning of the economy. The heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities.

This has to change. Governments around the world must act now to build a human economy that is feminist and values what truly matters to society, rather than fueling an endless pursuit of profit and wealth. Investing in national care systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by women and girls and introducing progressive taxation, including taxing wealth and legislating in favour of careers, are possible and crucial first steps.

Read More: https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620928/bp-time-to-care-inequality-200120-en.pdf;jsessionid=E6CEFFD0A20E2507F9764832432D55FE?sequence=36

Beyond Boundaries: Promoting Non-Traditional Livelihoods for Women

Authors: Aarti Dayal and Sneha Pathak
Publication Details: UNDP, 2024

This blog emphasises the need to expand women's career options beyond traditional roles in agriculture, construction, and domestic work to non-traditional sectors like logistics and STEM. Despite India's female labour force participation rate increasing to 37 per cent in 2023, systemic barriers such as societal norms, limited mobility, and unpaid care responsibilities persist, hindering women's economic empowerment. Highlighting the potential GDP boost of 27 percent from gender-equal participation, the article advocates for creating an enabling ecosystem with flexible, gender-sensitive training environments, aligned with initiatives like the National Skill Development Policy, to enhance women’s access to education and formal employment opportunities.

Read More: https://www.undp.org/india/blog/beyond-boundaries-promoting-non-traditional-livelihoods-women