In an interconnected world, if you’re not online, you’re not going anywhere. As low- and middle-income countries scramble to keep up with the steady march of digital advances, women in these countries face a double hurdle: They’re less likely to have access to the internet and even when they do have access, they’re less likely to use it.
The statistics bear this out. Nearly 1.5 billion women in LMICs can’t get online. Meanwhile, 259 million more men than women around the world used the internet through 2022, a gap that has cost the global economy an estimated $1 trillion. Closing the gender digital divide would boost economic activity by an estimated $524 billion by 2025.
That’s according to the Women in the Digital Economy Fund, or WiDEF, a new five-year, $60.5 million investment founded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that’s intended to tackle this stubborn digital divide.
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
