Policy Brief
What Works to Close Digital Gender Gaps?
Key Findings
- Phones provide crucial access to information, networks, and resources, but women in India lag men in ownership and usage.
- Researchers in the Inclusion Economics network evaluated a large, state-run phone distribution program in India and a complementary digital literacy training to assess their potential to close digital gender gaps.
- Despite initially reversing the gender gap in smartphone ownership, the smartphone distribution program had no long-term impact on digital gender gaps.
- In contrast, low-cost digital literacy training had lasting impacts, increasing women’s smartphone use and their use of advanced phone tasks.
- Digital literacy training also improved women’s mental health and connections with others, highlighting how phones can improve women’s well-being in settings where their mobility and networks are limited.
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