According to the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) report ‘Bridging The Gender Digital Divide: Challenges and an Urgent Call for Action for Equitable Digital Skills Development’ , 90% (9 out of 10) of adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 in low-income countries are offline (no access to the internet) compared to 78% of adolescent boys and young men of the same age who do not use the internet.
Key Findings of the Report:
i.The report highlights that a majority of youth in low- and middle-income countries are not connected to the internet, have limited digital skills, and do not own a mobile phone.
ii.Among 54 countries and territories analysed, only eight have achieved gender parity in internet use among youth.
- Among regions, the largest gap is observed in South Asia, favouring adolescent boys and young men by 27% points.
iii.For every 100 male youth who have digital skills, only 65 female youth do, across 32 countries and territories analysed.
iv.Across 41 countries and territories analysed, female youth (15- to 24-year-old) are nearly 13% less likely to own a mobile phone than male youth within the same household, limiting their ability to participate in the digital world.
v.The median values for the share of female and male youth who have digital skills are 9% and 20% respectively, a difference of 11 percentage points.
Recent Related News:
The second ILO–UNICEF (International Labour Organization – United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) joint report on social protection for children titled ‘More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection for children’ was released on March 01, 2023.
About United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
Headquarters – New York, USA
Executive Director – Catherine M. Russell
