Communications of the ACM
Digital Gender Gap Has Cost Over $1 Trillion - So Far
The study says the productivity lost due to the gender gap translates to a missing $24 billion (17.6 billion) in taxes for the countries covered.
Credit: iStock
Unequal access to the Internet between men and women has cost governments hundreds of billions of dollars over the last decade, and the losses will accelerate without action.
Men are 21% more likely to be online than women globally, rising to 52% in low-income countries. As a result, a new report says the 32 low and lower-middle income (LLMIC) countries covered have lost out on an estimated $1 trillion (£734 billion) over the last 10 years, due to the loss of potential digital skills.
The digital gender gap in these countries overall has barely improved at all in the last decade: just half a percentage point, from 30.9% to 30.4%.
The report's authors, the World Wide Web Foundation and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), estimated that the gender gap cut GDP by $126 billion (£92.5 billion) in 2020 alone — and the loss between 2021 and 2025 could exceed $500 billion (£366.9 billion).
From Computing (U.K.)
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