Next year, in September 2024, a Global Digital Compact will be agreed upon at the Summit of the Future. It will outline “shared principles for an open, free, and secure digital future for all”. However, evidence from the Global South is a testament to the many obstacles ahead. 

A digital future for all?

At Southern Voice, we began by investigating what it will take for our digital future to be open, accessible and secure for all women and girls in a few countries of the regions we work in (Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean). 

The result is a series of case studies, policy briefs, and consultations, all conducted with the members of our network. Even with sufficient internet penetration, various factors still significantly prevent women and girls from full and equal digital participation. 

The Global Digital Compact should mitigate the risk that digitalisation only benefits some while leaving behind or actively causing harm to others. To achieve this, its contents should reinforce global cooperation towards 1) enabling all women and girls to participate in online spaces regardless of means and 2) ensuring that these spaces are, in fact, safe for all women and girls. 

Enabling meaningful use of ICTs for all women and girls 

Significant commitments from all Member States will be necessary to support continued universal public access to the internet – a minimum requirement for the digital future to be within reach of all.

Evidence shows that women’s relative poverty in the Global South means that a home internet connection, a mobile data plan, and a digitally-enabled device are not affordable for many. Lack of access to electricity also limits connection for many women, particularly in rural areas. 

Where devices and a connection exist, we find that sociocultural biases at the personal, household, and community levels prevent women and girls from actively engaging with digital spaces. Among these, the prevalent perception is that IT devices and the learning of IT disciplines are “a man’s affair”. Where means may be available to provide training or devices, a family often privileges boys over girls in deciding who will benefit from these resources. In some contexts, women are not to be seen using mobile phones in public. The disparate weight of household and care responsibility befalling women and girls further limits their time to gain exposure and comfort with digital platforms.  

Finally, limited digital literacy and low confidence in IT abilities prevent many women and girls from participating in online spaces. It limits them from access to pursuing more complex tasks, including participating in the design of the digital technologies and platforms that should have their input to be truly representative. As such, there is an urgent need to integrate the development of digital skills for women and girls into schools, but also into other existing public structures, such as libraries or community centres, to cater to the particular needs of the many women – for example, small business owners – outside of the education system. 

Making the digital space safe 

The Global Digital Compact also has significant responsibility in laying the foundation for a fair, effective and inclusive digital safety regulatory framework. 

Evidence from our network stressed how an unsafe digital space might impact fundamental aspects of the lives of women and girls. For example, female students enrolled in tertiary education sometimes refrain from attending classes due to the presence of known abusers in the space. In other cases, especially for younger students, this limit would be imposed by parents, who would deem the internet unsafe for them. Women advocating online for the advancement of women and girls’ human rights also found themselves the targets of violent abuse, from sexually explicit attacks to threats emanating from some religious groups opposed to women’s reproductive rights.  

Where frameworks exist to curtail online violence, it was noted that deficient definitions for types of online abuse failed to support effective online safety regulation. In addition, where filters exist for hate/violent speech, for example, on global social media platforms, their implementation excludes several so-called “local languages”.

Only when the digital space is accessible to all, regardless of income, when it is safe for all, and when basic digital literacy becomes a right to the same degree as primary education can we conceive of a digital future that is “for all”. It is essential that the Global Digital Compact outline commitments that reflect these needs. 

We will share updates throughout our engagement with the Global Digital Compact process – join our mailing list here to stay connected. 

RELATED POSTS