A PTA report shows that women’s involvement in digital sectors and technology is still alarmingly low in Pakistan.
The paper highlighted vast differences in terms of female education, ownership of mobile phones, and use of the internet.
A report by the OECD estimates that 327 million females lack smartphone and mobile internet access compared to men around the world.
The Internet user base in Pakistan has increased in recent years but levels are still less than 40%.
Internet users increased by 22 million from 2021 to 2022, that is, at a growth rate of 35.9%, yet still unable to eliminate disparities in gender on the use of technology.
The challenge facing women is high equipment costs, less access to finance services, and also, low knowledge about the issues of digital technology.
Besides that, over 25% of women in any country do not possess a national identity card. The other reasons that hamper women’s participation include culture, security, and no indigenous content.
The women’s participation on social media is very low. According to the statistics, only 24% of the total Facebook members, which are about 60.4 million in Pakistan, are women.
Only women accounted for a 28% share in users in TikTok. The number was at 22% in the case of YouTube. The representation of females could be a bit higher, that is, 36% for users in Instagram.
Digital Gender Inclusion Strategy which assembles together PTA and Unesco was formed specifically for this purpose. The strategy suggests working against any obstacles that have been set up; for equal accesses. It aims to place the measurement of putting gender-inclusion outcome in tech into action.
