Women’s Rights Online

Championing gender-responsive policies in the digital sector

April 24, 2019

This post was written by Ingrid Brudvig, Gender Policy Manager, Web Foundation. What’s one of the first steps governments can (and must) take to close the digital gender gap? Hint: It’s notRead more

Meet the EQUALS Digital Skills Fund grantees!

April 9, 2019

The World Wide Web Foundation, with support from German Development Cooperation, is pleased to announce the ten grantees of a newly established grassroots fund aimed at supporting digital skillsRead more

Related Research

Advancing Women’s Rights Online: Gaps and Opportunities in Research and Advocacy

August 17, 2018

We’re excited to share with you a short new report to help guide our future research and advocacy efforts around closing the digital gender divide. This short report, Advancing Women’sRead more

Artificial Intelligence: open questions about gender inclusion | W20 Argentina

July 2, 2018

Artificial intelligence is shaping gender relations across the world, including in developing countries, creating new challenges and opportunities for women. For their personal development andRead more

More About This Project

Internet access offers a powerful avenue for people around the world to assert their rights and to claim social, economic and political opportunities for empowerment. Yet, half the world’s population remains offline

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most of them women, and most in developing countries. Recent research shows that this persistent, pernicious digital gender gap is worsening — a fact that threatens to deepen existing inequalities and to undermine global development as the benefits of technological change are captured primarily by men. Our Women’s Rights Online network is working to reverse this trend by focusing its efforts on impacting the policy needed to bridge the gender gap in technology, data, and policymaking. Comprising women’s rights and digital rights groups across 17 low- and middle-income countries, the network wants to see evidence-based national ICT and gender plans established in at least seven new countries within the next five years.