Costs of Exclusion: Gendered Experiences of Meaningful Connectivity through a Global Pandemic

RESEARCH QUESTION 

Did the digital gender gap mean that women and men experienced the COVID-19 pandemic differently, and what are the microeconomic and macroeconomic consequences of this gap? 
Did governments take action and succeed in fast-tracking access to Affordable and Meaningful Connectivity as a result of the pandemic? What specific actions proved to be impactful in reducing the digital gender gap and current gender-based digital inequality? 

WHY IS THIS RESEARCH IMPORTANT? 

This project is an extension of the Costs of Exclusion project and brings new insights from the past few years of the COVID-19 pandemic. It collects new data to update and reaffirm the main conclusions of the Costs of Exclusion project.  

It is a contribution to the emerging literature around the economic consequences of Internet access, with a focus on gender, providing specific recommendations to tackle the persistent exclusion and inequality faced by women and girls in global majority countries.  

It aims to provide lessons and evidence for policymakers, on how the digital gender gap has consequences that need to be narrowed through policy intervention, as well as for civil society actors and other stakeholders, providing them with a learning opportunity on the effectiveness of a policy advocacy strategy such as this. 

METHODOLOGY  

The research blends together quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative approach includes the use of secondary survey data from 1,000+ respondents from nine low-and-middle-income countries around the world and the conduction of new surveys in at least 4 low and middle-income countries (in order to describe the gender dynamics within the Covid-19 pandemic experience). 

The qualitative approach includes semi-structured online interviews with key stakeholders in the study countries as well as with gender-responsive policymaking experts across the regions, focus groups, and field observation (ethnographic research). This approach allows us to further understand the gendered impact of the pandemic on unconnected women, as well as to learn how women, especially lower-income and rural women, may better benefit from affordable and meaningful connectivity.