Bangladesh’s women rise to the challenge with big ideas for digital innovation

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day was ‘DigitALL’ - a vision for a ‘smart’ world which is inclusive of all. For my generation, from turning in our handwritten university papers, to being forced to take ‘computer classes’ and now grappling with our laptops on a daily basis, digital inclusion is not something to be taken for granted. Before our eyes, technology changed our world and who we are within it. From the advent of brick-sized cell phones to wondrous smart phones, ChatGPT and proliferation of AI, technology has created new pathways in an advanced and efficient world. But what of those whom the digital revolution has simply passed by, those who did not get an opportunity to hop onto this speeding train?

Let’s talk about the digital gender divide. As per UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low and middle-income countries in the last decade, a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 if action is not taken.  The participation of women in technology is low around the world. Women using the internet is 12% lower than men worldwide.

While Bangladesh boasts of more girls passing secondary and higher secondary studies, only 8% of them end up enrolling in science departments, with just 1.5% in engineering and technology, in 2019. These numbers are certainly indicative of the gap that exists and in need of immediate actions to address it.

Bangladesh has the highest gender gap in mobile internet usage among 10 low and middle-income countries according to the 2022 GSMA Mobile Gender Gap report. Here, internet use is 36% for men compared to 19% for women. According to the World Bank’s Bangladesh Country Gender Assessment 2021, women make up only 14% of all STEM professionals in Bangladesh as of 2019 and only 20% of the country’s IT sector employees are women as of 2017 . Women hold less IT leadership roles, making up just 15% of top positions at IT firms, leading only about 1% of the country’s IT companies, and constituting a meagre 2% of Bangladesh’s IT entrepreneurs. While Bangladesh boasts of more girls passing secondary and higher secondary studies, only 8% of them end up enrolling in science departments, with just 1.5% in engineering and technology, in 2019. These numbers are certainly indicative of the gap that exists and in need of immediate actions to address it.

Women also need basic digital literacy. During the pandemic, in cities, a huge number of online businesses run by women sprang up and supported families during a critical time. This was however an urban phenomenon. A very small percentage of women in villages, around 4%, have ever used a computer, compared to 13% in cities.  57% of urban women own a smart phone compared to 42% in rural areas.

This year, The World Bank, Women in Digital, and UNDP, joined hands to launch the 'Digital Innovation Challenge for Women 2023’ with a special focus on reaching out to girls from rural areas. The competition launched on International Women’s Day (IWD), received 132 submissions from girls forming 58 teams, to bring their proposals before a panel of tech-experts and startup companies who served as mentors throughout the three-month process. After this, 30 teams were shortlisted for the next phase. The challenge finally culminated in an awards ceremony on May 20, 2023, where 3 winning teams were picked from the 8 top teams after making pitches to the judges.

We were amazed at the innovative ideas and complex models prepared by these young women who had travelled many miles to participate. Most inspiring was perhaps that they had worked on solutions for challenges that they face in their lives – a solar cooking stove which is environment-friendly; a cheap homegrown model for the ELISA test to detect Tuberculosis among other diseases; biodegradable sanitary napkins of 8 types that were priced affordably  between 2-15 BDT and dispensed via a vending machine. The last entry emerged as the winner.

Digital innovations have the potential to help close gaps in mobility, pay, labor force participation and education. Including women in technology leads to innovative solutions that address women’s needs and promote gender equality. 

The digital gender divide is not just a supply side issue, with a lack of women and girls in STEM. There are deep social barriers and norms that prevent them from entering STEM and ICT sectors.

The digital gender divide is not just a supply side issue, with a lack of women and girls in STEM. There are deep social barriers and norms that prevent them from entering STEM and ICT sectors.  Mentoring, awareness raising, including families and communities in dispelling gender stereotypes, presenting women role-models who have carved a path and built successful careers, are all critical steps to tear down the cultural obstacles. Another obstacle is cyberviolence against women and girls, for which raising awareness and demonstrating preventive technology and cybersecurity trainings have become an urgent necessity.

A multipronged approach, targeting education, jobs and social norms, to identify and address the barriers to gender equality in technology is needed to realize the full potential of the digital universe for women.  The World Bank has been supporting initiatives such as WePower to bring more female engineers into the energy sector and Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WEFI) to support digital marketing and e-commerce training for women. The Bank also supports projects such as Private Investment and Digital Entrepreneurship (PRIDE) which provide advanced ICT skills and certification for Bangladeshi women, and Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation (ASSET) which has a target to include 350,000 women in its skilling and training programs. We are working to ensure that women can benefit from the rich opportunities offered by ICT.

In Bangladesh, the World Bank is investing in skilling and getting women and girls ready for the future of work. This competition, small as it was, showed us that they are up for the challenge.