In Solidarity is a SEWA Cooperative Federation podcast that explores themes relevant to women’s economic empowerment and challenges that women-owned, women-run enterprises face. In the first episode, titled The Great Gender Digital Divide, we are in conversation with Anita Gurumurthy, Founding Member and Executive Director, IT for Change.
According to an article by Mitali Nikore for the Observer Research Foundation, In 2020, 25 percent of the total adult female population owned a smartphone versus 41 per cent of adult men. However, the question is not only one of access, which is no doubt important, but also a lack of digital technologies that are designed for women, especially in the informal sector. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these inequalities. While there was a digital transformation happening in the world, with structural shifts towards e-commerce, women in the informal sector were left behind.
Through this conversation with Anita, we explore questions of women’s access to technology and how we can begin to bridge the gender digital divide, opportunities that technology offers informal women workers and their collective enterprises, the platform economy and women’s enterprises, and how we can reimagine technology as an equaliser.

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