Introduction
The global digital gender divide is keeping hundreds of millions of women and girls
from fully participating and contributing online with almost half of the world population still
having no access to the internet. The number of women using the internet globally is 48% compared to 58% of men
implying that there is a 17% internet user gap. Uganda is one of the African
countries with the largest gender gap according to the 2020 new study by the
World Wide Web Foundation for instance men are 43% more likely than
women to use the internet in Uganda.
Although 27.9% of men as
compared to 19.2 % of women are having
access to the internet in Uganda, 19.2 % of women who are online often experiencing a lower quality of internet services than men. There is a hidden digital gender divide that lies beyond the gap in
internet access. In case all these are not well understood, including the way
women are prevented from using the internet fully, then the achievement of
digital equality will still be a struggle for Uganda and the whole world. The digital gender divide prevents millions of girls and
women from accessing the full benefits of technology and may negatively affect the
achievement of the 2030 sustainable development goals of enhancing gender
equality in all its spheres.
For many years, organizations such as the World Wide Web
Foundation (WWWF), Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), the Centre for
Multilateral Affairs (CfMA) and regulatory bodies i.e. Uganda Communications
Commission (UCC) has been working together to improve the status of women
online in Uganda - specifically to ensure that women's rights online are
protected, upheld, and promoted in the digital space just as it should be in the
offline environment. It has already been widely recognized throughout the past
decades that the inclusion of women is vital for the shift towards
development and poverty eradication.
Recently, WOUGNET and the CfMA organized an exhilarating
discussion on closing the gender digital divide in Uganda, this followed the report launch, “Women’s Rights Online: closing the digital gender gap for a more
equal world”. As part of the activities for the
Women Rights Online report launch on October 12th, 2020, WOUGNET and the CfMA
organized a Twitter chat. This tweet chat was preceded by a webinar
discussion on October 14tth, 2020 to further explore, highlight and
interrogate the key issues and findings that emanated from the research by the
World Wide Web Foundation and Uganda Communications Commission.
Understanding the Digital Gender Divide
During the Twitter chat, netizens shared their perspectives and
understanding of the digital gender divide such as;
“Reflecting
the inequalities between men & women in internet access and use. Though
often understood as the gap between the number of men and women who can use the
internet, the digital gender divide goes beyond access. A hidden
digital gender divide lies beyond the gap in internet
access. If we don’t understand all the ways women are prevented from using the
internet fully, we won’t achieve digital equality.”
“Inequalities
between women
and men in regard to information access and
communications technologies.”
Barriers to Women’s Access to
Digital platforms
Even where women are closing the gap on basic internet access, they face additional barriers to
fully participate online such as; poverty and illiteracy, poor infrastructure,
lack of appropriate devices to use and access the internet, and poor network
connectivity in rural areas where the majority of them stay. They also face
online harassment, have low education levels and this limits their knowledge on
the vitality of tech, among others. Each of these barriers leaves the web with
an internet that does not work equally well for women and men. Some of the
barriers participants mentioned during the Twitter chat conversation included;
“...Women
face multiple barriers - sometimes exacerbated by cultural and stereotypical
perceptions but while basic access is improving, there is a high cost of the
internet, devices are poor, data is expensive & digital skills are
lacking.”
“The triple
role burden on women corrupts their time that they could have used that is
productive, reproductive, and community role burden.”
More to this, Chenai Chair, the Research
Manager: Gender and Digital Rights at Web Foundation, emphasized that
meaningful access, usage, and connectivity; digital skills and content; Internet
access and economic opportunities; Perception of rights and Online safety were
the key issues examined in the 2020 study.
During the webinar, Geoffrey Ssegendo who is the current
Head of Research & Service Development at UCC pointed out that Article 33
of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda provides for the rights of women and it
clearly indicates that women shall be given equal opportunity in political,
economic and social activities with the men by providing services and
facilities that are necessary. Additionally, laws and policies have been put in
place through Ministries, Departments, and Agencies such as Uganda Gender Policy
2017, Domestic Violence Act of 2010, Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2015, and
the National Action Plan on women of 2007.
How limited or no internet access affects women and girls’ online
rights
In Uganda, women, and girls still face limited
access to the internet which affects their access to information yet it’s their fundamental human right. Limited
internet access, therefore, affects their economic decisions, health, education
and social interaction although the internet offers significant opportunities
for self-growth and their empowerment. The exclusion of women online threatens
everybody’s prosperity, opportunity, and well-being which greatly impacts on their
ability to exercise their rights and limits their opportunities to create an
online space that works for them.
Two participants said this during the Twitter conversations;
“limited or
no access to the internet excludes women and girls from joining online
movements that are driving change. we all need to join these online movements
to create change for ourselves and for the people around us.”
“In the
context of COVID-19, we saw a great rise in misinformation and disinformation,
women and girls were vulnerable because of their limited access and use of the
internet.”
How Over the Top
(OTT) taxes undermined internet access
for Ugandans?
Also, Over The Top taxes are disempowering and further relegates women and girls to the
bottom - in terms of access, use and utilization of ICT and ICT based services
- further widening the Gender Digital Divide in Uganda. High taxes such as Over the Top taxes on digital
services remain a stumbling block to digital inclusion not only to basic social
media access but also access for mobile money usage, digital banking yet these
are services where more women in business are involved. Chenai Chair, during
the webinar, said that affordability of data emerged as the biggest challenge
with 25% of respondents noting it. However, she additionally mentioned a lack of
digital skills and time as some of the issues. She further noted that general
internet access is 23.2% in Uganda with a gender gap of 19.2%women and 27% men.
Lillian Nalwoga, the former Internet Society Uganda Chapter
(ISOC Uganda) President noted that COVID-19
has shown everyone that life is dependent on technology although knowing the
quality of technology especially the internet is important. “Online safety is a
very big obstacle to women’s online privacy. This deters women from being online
and the laws are not supportive of women's rights,” she added.
Women’s concerns over online privacy
Despite all these challenges, the study found out that women
were more concerned about their privacy than men and they cannot allow their
data to be used for any purpose. For instance, women in Uganda do not freely
express themselves online because of fear of being called all sorts of names by
the public. Also, a woman raising her voice threatens their safety both online
and offline.

Photo by WOUGNET
Policy options to close the
gender digital divide in Uganda
In the case of Uganda where we have a gender digital gap of
42%, more investment is needed for
infrastructure development and building capacity of women and girls to address
the question of internet access and affordability. Geoffrey Ssegendo pointed
out during the webinar that in 2014, the UCC carried out research on women’s
access and usage of ICT and the findings indicated that only 6 percent of women
were online. “The findings of this research provided evidence that women are
being marginalized yet they constitute a significant segment of the population
in Uganda,” he added.
Gender-responsive policies and approaches are necessary to
bridge the gender digital gap by developing ethical standards and digital
frameworks to eliminate inherent gender biases in the development of digital
technologies, and develop sectoral policies that support women’s inclusion in
the production, design, and governance of digital technologies. For example,
Gender data should be made available to help organizations like WOUGNET to
design strategies for empowering women and girls. However initiatives by Uganda
Communications Commission to close the gender digital divide such as Rural
Communication Development Fund (RCDF), ICT Skills
Development intervention, teacher retooling
intervention,
among others should be known to civil society organizations (CSOs) working on
gender and digital rights to further bridge the gender digital divide in Uganda
with additional implementation of community networks by the government and
CSOs. This will greatly help Uganda to achieve its digital vision 2040 in
recognizing ICT as a critical driver of economic transformation from a peasant
to a modern and prosperous country, that narrows the digital gender gap.
Cover Photo: NESA by
Makers on Unsplash
Written by Sandra Aceng, Peace Oliver Amuge
and Isaac Amuku