Digital Governance To Reduce The Gender Gap: Opportunities And Challenges

Introduction

The concept of good governance needs to evolve and be tailored for every time and place. However, in today’s world, one thing is indisputable: digital governance is likely to reap many benefits in the realm of governance. Even though technology comes with a host of challenges related to cybersecurity and privacy, it can surely be harnessed for the greater good of humanity, or for the benefit of marginalized groups, at least. Thus, the advantages of digital governance must be reiterated and reinforced in policy discussions and law-making processes, and the lack thereof needs to be rectified.

Why is Digital Governance Needed for Women’s Empowerment

To begin with, we need to examine why digital governance should be channeled to empower women. Plethora of issues, such as gender bias, discriminatory laws, and physical and sexual violence, are faced by women in their everyday lives. Despite the efforts and advocacy to achieve gender parity, women are lagging in many sectors due to various structural barriers. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, no country has achieved gender parity, and as per the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to close the gender gap in social, economic, and political arenas. If we only examine the participation of women in the financial sector, we find several indicators that point towards dire gender inequality. According to the International Labour Organization’s data on the gender gap in labour markets, gender disparity in jobs gap-a new indicator by ILO which tells the number of people who would like to work but cannot find work- is much more pronounced than the gender gap in the unemployment rate. The Global Risks Report lists digital inequality as well as infectious and chronic diseases as both short and long-term global risks. However, the report also argues that healthcare can benefit from technological advances by augmenting capacity and reducing costs through virtual care. Thus, the goal of gender equality should be pursued earnestly, and all necessary measures should be taken urgently.

Digital Governance and Gender Equality

Digital governance can help tackle many issues that women face by promoting inclusivity, accountability and efficiency. The UN E-Government Development Index report emphasized that from the positive results gleaned from the use of digital avenues during COVID-19, one can infer that e-government can be effectively employed for collaboration between policymakers and societies and for building inclusive institutions. Also, digital transformation can rectify the aforementioned economic issues faced by women by providing avenues for economic opportunities, increasing income, and access to information. Due to social norms that inhibit women’s mobility and place in public areas, the government can facilitate women by providing e-services in digital governance schemes. The countries with the highest number of internet users also boast a high score on gender parity. According to a UNDP report, the marginalized communities in India, including women, will likely benefit from the one trillion-dollar improvement in India’s GDP due to the Digital India program, of which digital governance is a central component.

Several resolutions of intergovernmental bodies and national digitalization policies have pressed for steps to empower women through digital transformation. For instance, Pakistan’s Digital Pakistan Policy 2018 aimed to transform governance models, introduce training programs and legal protections, and provide incentives and access to ICTs for reducing gender inequality. Also, Pakistan’s First National Security Policy states that it is crucial for the success of any security policy that it adopts a gendered lens, and notes that peace and security are incumbent upon women empowerment. It also calls for the inclusion of women in law enforcement, decision-making, and policy formulation. The 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women was based on the theme of achieving gender equality amid technological change and the digital age. One of the conclusions reached at the end of the session was to develop e-government tools to ensure women’s political participation and engagement at all levels.

Challenges

Despite efforts to prioritize e-governance initiatives to ensure transparency and accountability, there are still several challenges, especially for developing countries. The UN EGDI report noted an improvement of 6 percent in terms of the provision of e-services, but there is a 66% gap in the digital divide between high-income and low-income countries. In the low-income countries, only 15 percent household can access the internet. The gender gap in digital arenas not only persists but is quite acute as many women in developing countries neither have access to the internet nor mobile phones.

Secondly, having e-governance infrastructure in one thing and delivering to the needs of people is another. Despite having policies for the advancement of digital governance, Pakistan’s e-government score improved by a meager 1.3% in 2022. Tabadlab attributed this dismal performance to, among other things, limited focus on the needs and ease of citizens. UNDP’s report also noted that, given the complexity of issues women face, e-government initiatives aren’t as gender-responsive as they should be. For example, the issuance of e-birth certificates will be more impactful for women than the issuance of e-passports, but governments tend to prioritize the latter.

To make e-governance work, it is essential that women are included in the digital transformation, however, they face many challenges in this area too. Of the women who work, the majority are employed in sectors where they are performing traditional female roles, such as nursing and childcare, and aren’t equally represented in STEM fields, where their participation is essential.

Conclusion

The theme of International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th every year in many parts of the world to highlight the significance of gender equality and issues of inequality, in 2023 was “DigitAll: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”. That digital governance should be pursued with a dual aim of good governance, and women empowerment cannot be understated. Sustainable development cannot be imagined without empowering women. Gender equality is not only enshrined in SDG 6, but several indicators and targets of other SDGs also call for actions for socio-economic and political inclusion of all. However, the pace of transition to e-government has been slow, impacting the cause of gender equality too.
Thus, digital governance should be employed for the collective good, as well as to narrow the gender gap.