Empower women and girls through digital access

Our report on the gender digital divide highlights stories from our partners in Nigeria and the UK, along with insights from our projects in the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Kenya.

Thanks to your support over the past year, we have been able to work productively with our partners to ensure women and girls could continue learning online throughout COVID-19. Access to digital technology can no longer seen as a luxury, but a necessity for all.

Our report draws on this important work to shed light on the challenges facing women and girls’ education as a result of the gender digital divide and the ongoing pandemic. 

On the one hand, the digital divide can exacerbate existing social inequalities, becoming an extra barrier for women and girls’ empowerment. However, greater access and use of digital technology can help correct existing gender inequalities in education, employment, and other areas. 

We believe that with the appropriate action on the part of funders, policy-makers and government leaders, women and girls can move from disconnection to connection. Our partners show that the students continue to have a willingness to learn, and that teachers and staff are working flexibly and creatively to provide the best solutions for their students.

We hope that this report will inspire you to think about the effects of digital exclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and most importantly, what can be done to build more resilience through quality education for the future. 

With gratitude,

Nicole

• Women (Dis)Connected Report (PDF)
  

Ifeoma is the head of academics at Wavecrest College of Hospitality in Lagos, Nigeria. She has worked at Wavecrest for 18 years, but the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented difficulties for both students and teachers who lacked digital access. 

"My biggest challenge in teaching online has been teaching students who do not have the resources, for example students who didn’t have phones that support apps for learning, or have no phone, talk less of a laptop, nor data to sign into class, or lack internet connectivity," she said.

"The other challenge was having to spend a lot more on data. Being the person in charge of academics, it was awful to see that most teachers had to use their phones as they didn’t have laptops to teach with. A good number also had challenges similar to the students: no power, high cost of data and poor network."

The school decided to use WhatsApp to teach online throughout the pandemic.

"It sounds ridiculous but that was the best option considering that most students have access to WhatsApp, and then send teaching notes and references by email." Ifeoma said.

While Wavecrest was able to find solutions to teaching during the pandemic, obstacles such as no power, poor network connection, the high cost of data and some women not having access to phones stood in their way.

Your donation helped bridge the gap. With your support, Wavecrest was able to ensure that teachers were able to reach their students, and that students had the resources and the skills to continue learning from home.

Thank you for supporting the education of young women around the world.

With gratitude, 

Nicole