Gender Disparity is Another Section of Digital Divide

A survey tells that 41% of girls in rural and semi-urban areas have access to mobile technology for less than an hour a day. In Indian society, it is said by more than 60% of parents that the phone serves as a ‘distraction’ for their daughters. Among the Indian states, Karnataka tops the list with 65% and Assam is at the bottom of the list with 3.3% which is the lowest access to digital devices.

A 17-year-old girl from Jharkhand tells the story of her society. She says that people said her that she is very young and should resist using a mobile phone; her brother needs the phone. A teenage girl from Bihar said that her neighbors scold girls for using smartphones and they think it is not useful for us. The survey was conducted by NGOs Centre for Catalyzing Change and the Digital Empowerment Foundation.

The above highlights were from this survey named ‘Bridging the digital divide for girls in India’. It was conducted across 10 states where the analysis was made on the challenges to digital access to adolescent girls. It was also done to analyze how it impacts their education. There is a stark gender disparity clearly visible in the survey in terms of access to the ever-increasing mobile technology.

In Haryana, only boys said that they had easy access to mobile phones and none of the girls were in the same position as boys. 93% of boys in Maharashtra have easy access to mobile phones in comparison to 7% of girls in the state. The states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka performed better in terms of equitable access to mobile technology between boys and girls.

By: Kiara Sharma

Mahaveer Public School