The Gender Digital Divide

The Gender Digital Divide (GDD) Desk Review, Gender Analysis Technical
Resource, and Risk Mitigation Technical Note support the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) Digital Strategy through the “Closing the Gender
Digital Divide” initiative and its objectives to:

• Scale understanding of the gender digital divide across the Agency;
• Provide tools for USAID staff to support host countries in overcoming the barriers to women’s access and use of digital technology; and,
• Provide further evidence of the benefits and risks relating to women’s access to and use of information and communications technology (ICT).

The Desk Review provides an overview of the current status of the gender digital divide  (with a particular focus on mobile phones and mobile Internet, although these are not the only aspects of the gender digital divide), including an analysis of why it exists, why closing the gender digital divide matters, and the potential risks for women and girls in using technology.

The Gender Analysis Technical Resource and Risk Mitigation Technical Note offer practical tools and resources to help USAID staff, especially USAID Gender Advisors, understand the gender digital divide and integrate gender digital divide considerations into gender analyses with a WEEGE lens as well as provide concrete recommendations on how to mitigate the risks associated with women and girls accessing and using technology.

These tools and resources can be used either together or as stand-alone documents. They are designed to be flexible and illustrative: they can be adapted or used as jumping-off points and prompts. These tools build off of, and refer to, the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEEGE) Technical Guide, with specific references to Integrating WEEGE into a Gender Analysis Toolbox and WEEGE Illustrative Indicators.