Gender Digital Divide in the context of Southeast Asia and Policy making

I was invited as a speaker in a panel discussion about “Digitalization and the 4th IR”, as part of the Mekong —U.S. Partnership Track 1.5 Policy Dialogue with a thematic focus on Human Resources and Capacity Building, organized by the Stimson Center and IUCN with the grant from the U.S. Department of State. I was of course thrilled to talk about anything digital but also wanted to bring the topic of the Gender Digital Divide to the table.

👋 I am sharing with you here the exact script I wrote in preparation for the 6 mins presentation on that day. I tend to write the exact words and then practice religiously for any speaking engagement, including when I facilitate workshops. I think it is better to overly prep than risk being blank in the middle of my talk. After years of practice, I got better at speaking in public now, but at this particular conference, I feel overwhelmingly unqualified due to the profile of other speakers and what is at stake.

[Disclaimer] I am no expert on the subject matter. This is just something I am wholeheartedly passionate about.

Some Context

The conference took place from July 21 to July 22, 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There were different panel discussions on labor, education, healthcare, and immigration happening throughout the whole 2 days, and they concluded with a workshop on policy suggestions. The objective of the dialogue series, according to my understanding is to co-design innovative policy solutions and recommendations to policymakers. To be honest, I don’t know what it will look like, but the organizers at the Stimson Center will send us an email on their next action items.

My panel discussion was about “Digitalization and the 4th Industrial Revolution”. The prompt was “ Digitalization and the fourth industrial revolution are transforming the way that many key drivers of economic growth–including manufacturing and agriculture–work. How are various sectors being affected by digitalization? What are the conditions that must be in place for a successful shift to the digital economy? What are the risks of being left behind for those stakeholders or sectors which are slower to adapt? How can Mekong countries avoid those risks and capitalize on opportunities? How can technologies are deployed in a way which benefits both businesses and workers?”.

However, I quickly found out that we didn’t have to follow the prompt questions and in fact nobody did. That gave me the liberty to talk about the gender gap rather than what my company is doing. That’s because I wasn’t there to represent my startup, though at Boost Capital—we provide technology to improve access to finance, especially for women entrepreneurs, which I was asked during the Q&A as well.

My presentation script

I didn’t have enough time to do slides as my angle on the matter was a bit of a last-minute thing. As you can see, I really write it in a way I should speak. I was, however, too trembling to follow the full script because my nerve got the best of my memory.

I am excited to be able to participate in this discussion and esp on the topic I am wholeheartedly passionate about which is digitalization. Echoing what other panelists have mentioned previously, we are all aware of the tremendous opportunities that the 4th industrial revolution brings to global economic growth and of course and especially to countries in the Mekong region, given the young population that we have, which as a result means the population is more accepting toward digitalization. In fact, according to research by Facebook and Bain & Company (2020) the Southeast Asia region remains one of the fastest growing digital economies in the world and according to some estimates, has already seen the equivalent of five years of digital transformation in a single year. And I think this is a pattern. For example, we skip the PC age and jump straight into the smartphone era.

In the context of Cambodia, we are seeing the digital transformation and disruption happening in both the private sector, esp in the consumer space from digital payments, mobile banking, food delivery, ride-hailing…all the way to government. For example, recently NBC has launched Bakong, a mobile payment solution using blockchain technology, there are other initiatives for e-government as well, such as e-KYC solutions and data sharing for all the government institutions. So, I am optimistic about where things are going given that digitalization, the digital economy right now is a key agenda in government policy.

If we look at it, the key attributes of digital economy growth include:

1. Having the necessary infrastructure that enables digital connectivity and physical connectivity, so this includes telecommunication networks, devices, electricity, digital payment systems, and logistics

2. Having the necessary legal framework to build trust and also provide security to all the participants, but also flexible for innovation and disruption.

3. Companies and organizations have the will and the means to digital transformation. And big corporations who are a bit traditional can be reluctant to do this, esp. if they see digitalization as a day-one-profit generating element rather than an investment.

4. And of course, human resources that have adequate digital skills that can adapt and embrace this change. And the key to build up this human resource is access—access to the necessary infrastructure, and knowledge.

One thing we have learned from the previous industrial revolution is that there is no guarantee that everyone will equally benefit from this opportunity. Studies have shown that men stand to gain one job for every three jobs lost to technological advances, while women are expected to gain one job for every five or more jobs lost.

But women continue to disproportionately experience poverty; discrimination; social, economic, and political exclusion, and inequality in education that limit their participation in the digital economy. We are seeing the old gender inequality in the physical world replicated in the digital world. And that is not something surprising. Because the very factors that contribute to gender inequality are the same factors that affect women’s digital adoption and use.

Poverty means limited access to and use of digital technologies, and together with the unequal access to education constrains women’s ability to develop digital skills → this leads to an absence of women in technology fields and perpetuates the myths that digital and other technological careers are not for women and girls. And of course, there are social discrimination, cultural perception, and digital harassment that further inhibit the flow of digital benefits to women.

Women who are in the labor force are already facing high risks of job loss due to the 4th IR. We are talking about the garment sector, in which 80% of workers in Cambodia are women. And in the Covid-19 context, women work in the industries that were heavily impacted, such as hospitality and healthcare.

Studies have shown time and time again that when we have gender equality in labor force participation, it is good for the economy as a whole and also the individual company and industry. So, while we are thinking about policies to drive the digital economy, we should also be intentionally gender-inclusive.

I really want to emphasize the word “intentional”. Because it can be tempting to design policies for everyone, and everyone tends to be meant for men. This is because we don’t have much gender-disaggregated data. We know that women and men differ drastically in terms of behavior, physiques, and biology, but we tend to approach research without a gender angle. And to make the matter worse, we don’t have a lot of female representatives at the leadership level that influences these policies.

So, intentional digital gender inclusive policies could mean:

• Improving the availability of digital infrastructure and subsidizing for girls and women access to meaningful digital usage. That means data plans, electricity, and devices.

• Promoting women’s digital literacy could mean we embedded digital education in the formal school curricula from primary levels, which will help to build confidence in the use of digital devices.
  
  The key here is also to remove the stigma that technology is for boys. Teachers should encourage girls to participate and explore the use of technology. Teaching technology in a very girly context. For example, initiatives like “Girls Who Code”, or “Made with code”, make coding fun for girls by incorporating computer science into fun girly games like make-over or fashion design. This turns coding into just another problem-solving or design skill rather than some complicated boy-oriented activity.
  There should also be mentoring programs that are specially designed for girls. Women as role models. Girls need to see that they too can confidently master digital skills.
  
  The education should extend beyond formal learning to informal and life-long education. The challenge here is to not just be job-ready but future-ready. A lot of digital jobs that we see now don’t exist 5 years ago. For example, 6 years ago when i was still in university, UX design was unheard of. It was still new in the developed world. But now it is one of the highest demands job in the tech field. So the approach we have with 4-year university program alone will not be agile enough to adapt to this fast-changing world.

• Empowering women entrepreneurs. This means providing better access to finance for women-owned businesses, esp. informal businesses, and other leadership and product development training and networking opportunities that enable them to strive.

• The technology itself should be designed with gender-inclusive in mind. For example, if there is new social media, one of the main criteria will be to ensure cyberbullying against women.

• Then we should also address the social stigma surrounding the gender equality issue we have in the first place. That means building communities and support systems to educate family members.

So, I want to end my presentation by again re-iterate that while we are here to discuss policies and recommendations that would help countries to maximize the benefits digitalization will bring, let us not forget to be intentionally gender-inclusive about it.

Reflection

It was such an honor to be invited to the session. The other panelists and especially our moderator are so high profile. The moderator is Amb. Michael Michalak, U.S. ASEAN Business Council, among his many other titles. The other panelists were from ADB, ASEAN Secretariat, and Value Chain Capacity Building Network. I was so so star-struck and nervous that I wouldn’t be up for the task. But I am so glad it happened, and that a mentor/business partner/boss recommended me to this event. I forever owe many many opportunities to all the great people around me.

Right away the panelist session, a participant, approached me and told me how my messages were so inspiring and impactful that he sent them to his 15-years-old daughter. And we proceed to discuss in length about women empowerment and gender gap in the workplace, how to get a seat at a table and how—all these deep conversations. He also told me to continue to inspire and make myself available to many more young girls who need to see women represented in Tech or STEM careers, who need mentorship and guidance, and who need reassurance that they too can make it. 💖

Throughout the whole 2-days, I felt so intellectually stimulating and I am proud of myself to be able to carry out these conversations about these systematic issues. Of course, the introverted me skip the farewell dinner and resorted to 2 days of staying at home to regain my energy.

Resources

Here are the resources and references that inform my presentation:

• What we know about the gender digital divide for girls: A literature review - by UNICEF

• Bridging the Gender Digital Gap - by G20 Insights

• Digital economy and social policy framework of Cambodia (2021-2035) - by the Royal Government of Cambodia

• Gender-Digital-Equality-Across-ASEAN - by Araba SEY

• The Risks of Industry 4.0 on Cambodia's Garment Sector by Dr. Daniel Schmücking

• Accelerating Digital Inclusion in the New Normal by the World Economic Forum

• Gender Digital Divide Index Report 2022

And other talks and videos on Youtube on the subject matter.