Digitalisation is the re-architect of a new tomorrow with gender-neutral digital literacy leading the path to economic revival in a post-pandemic economy. But can a woman from the rural areas of India or the migrant diaspora break free from patriarchal norms for digital upskilling and development? Can a woman who has lost her job due to the pandemic be re-skilled through available digital platforms?
The session on ‘Digitalisation for Women Empowerment' at The Greater 50 Conclave with Tanya Chaitanya, Chief Content Officer, Digital and Diversity Initiatives, Reliance (Her Circle) as one of the key speakers, sparked some of these significant conversations and questions on the challenges and opportunities for gender-inclusive digital empowerment. Leaders driving the frontline of progress spoke about their experiences of working with women from both the rural and urban sectors.
Attendees of the session were given a panoramic view of the opportunities and challenges faced by the women of India by the speakers. While a homemaker in the outskirts of Varanasi, a victim of patriarchy is unable to take out time from her household tasks for digital skilling, a ‘naani’ (grandmother) in Lucknow using a digital courier service enabled by Riya from Mumbai can be enabled to send a Chikankari salwar kameez to Neeti in Chennai – stereotype in the first case, community support in the other; so wide is the gap that needs to be bridged with sustainable solutions and actionable strategies. Narrowing this digital divide is the core of Her Circle, a Reliance-Jio initiative.
The Her Circle Movement
India’s gender digital divide is real. And the session highlighted some shocking data. According to the Google and Bain & Company Report 2020, 13.5 to 15.7 million women-owned enterprises make up 20 per cent of all the enterprises in India. It is the unfair gap between digital access and utility for women. Indian women are 15 per cent less likely to own a mobile phone, and 33 per cent less likely to use mobile internet services than men. This digital divide has manifested itself as a triple disadvantage – urban and rural division caused by broadband penetration, income-based division, and internal household division where women are prevented from access.
Indian women are increasingly giving up their careers due to reasons including marriage, childcare and concerns related to safety and security in the workplace. Flexible working hours, the absence of infrastructure and operational costs makes direct selling a practical choice for women from middle and low-income groups who have limited access to capital. “These challenges and their solutions brings us full circle to Her Circle. We intend to ensure that our social network turns into a collaborative effort; a place where if a small entrepreneur wants to sell her wares in a hyper-local set-up or even a large-scale woman entrepreneur wishes to find takers and vendors, the community comes together,” explained Ms Chaitanya.
“At Her Circle, we work towards women empowerment via online information dissemination, education, upskilling, recruitment, networking and personal development for all the women who visit our website and app,” she added.
Highlighting the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, Ms Chaitanya spoke about how women entrepreneurs find themselves at a disadvantage due to the lack of access to reliable platforms in the e-commerce space and how Her Circle is countering these challenges with the crucial tool - ABCD
Align – Align to reduce gender inequality by bringing female digital entrepreneurs to the decision-making table, to shape a more sustainable and inclusive future.
Build – Build and nurture communities through masterclasses.
Connect – Connect with like-minded women; digital entrepreneurs, sharing experiences and best practices that will help them overcome the barriers with like-minded people to expand communities.
Develop – Develop entrepreneurial skills by providing women access to the right resources.
The Opportunity
Empowering both the urban and the rural women is important. From creating awareness in the rural sectors to providing a secure and flexible work environment, panellists stressed on the importance of accelerating digital transformation through sustainable strategies. Some of the key solutions provided by the speakers were:
The fundamentals of the digital divide primarily start from the basics of education. Trying to create one-size-fits-all is definitely not the solution - Preeti Syal, Senior Specialist, NITI Ayog.
The pandemic gave us the opportunity to reimagine and realign business models to build a circular, inclusive and largely digital economy where gender roles cease to matter – Tanya Chaitanya, Chief Content Officer, Digital and Diversity Initiative, Reliance (Her Circle).
Soft skills are extremely important. We shouldn't forget that the empowering part of the whole process is where you give them the skills to be confident, understand marketing, finance, and technology. - Ms Anandi Iyer, Director Fraunhofer Office India
We have seen women being very adversely affected in the pandemic in the health area. Women's productivity can go up manifold with good health and by including digital health in soft skills for women. – Ms Vinita Sethi, SVP & Chief Public Affairs Officer
The number of women who go for childcare sabbaticals and never return to work is high. The country is actually sitting on a huge human capital which is getting wasted. - Ms Srimathi Shivashankar, Corporate Vice President and Program Director, New Vistas, HCL Technologies.