WOMEN’S RIGHTS ONLINEREPORTCARD
INDIA
Measuring Progress,
Driving Action

INTE’SENACCESS & W
ET OWERM OM
NENR MPTEINDIA
OVERALL SCORE:
SCORE:

30%

SCORE:

Y

5Although India comes close to achieving the Alliance
for Affordable Internet affordability target of 1 GBdata priced at less than 2% of average monthly
income, one in five people are still unable to afford
a basic 500MB package to connect.

DIGITAO R DA BILIT

Across the whole of India, only 17% of women areconnected. In poor areas of New Delhi, few women
who are online use the Internet to look for important
information on their rights (17%), search for a job(29%) or voice their opinions online (8%).

SCORE:KILLS & EDU
SCLIONATFAF

3

3

While training teachers in ICTs to improve education
outcomes is a part of government strategy, such
school initiatives have not taken off uniformly. A lackof reliable electricity supply is a significant obstacle
to integrating ICT in education.

RELEVAICESRVSCORE:

LINE S AFETYNOCONTENT & SETN

2Government has launched health information
services via mobile phone, but they do not have a
reproductive rights approach. Rights-based content
on reproductive and sexual health is provided on asmaller scale by some civil society organisations.
Additionally, just 1% of women have access to mobile
financial services.

SCORE:

4

Currently the only recourse available to victims of
online violence is to seek protection under legal
provisions for offline violence. This means thatvictims are not able to seek redress effectively fromlocal law enforcement authorities. A robust regulatory
framework for protection of personal data is also
missing in the country.

CLOSING THE GENDER GAP: A 5 POINT ACTION PLAN
1EVALUATE DIGITAL INDIA FROM A GENDER LENS. Digital India, the country’s flagshipprogramme for digital empowerment, must be evaluated from a gender perspective, and a concrete strategyand targets for furthering women’s empowerment must be designed.

2TRACK INDICATORS ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND TECHNOLOGY. India’s
statistical systems must evaluate progress towards the UN’s goal to empower women through ICTs. Thisrequires the development and tracking of indicators at individual, community and institutional levels.

3PRIORITISE FREE PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS. Inclusive and safe public access spaces
must be made available through supporting the development of innovative last mile-connectivity models
by women’s collectives and organisations under the Bharat-Net/ National Optic Fibre Network programme.
A universal data allowance focused on women must also be implemented.

4

CREATE WOMEN’S DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES. Digital literacy
programmes and curriculum must go beyond technical skills training. They should be re-imagined as apathway for women and girls’ citizenship, supporting their ability to make important life choices.

5END ONLINE GENDER BASED VIOLENCE. Online violence needs to be effectively addressed
through a systemic response to gender based violence, using creative solutions that use the power of data
for effective response and inter-agency coordination. The mere introduction of a new law on cyber-bullying
or cyber-stalking may not suffice.

PROJECT OVERVIEWThe United Nations recently
made gender-equitable access to
information and communications
technologies (ICTs) central to theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs), which set the global
development agenda until 2030.
Why? ICTs are powerful. They can help todeliver improved healthcare, quality education
for all, financial inclusion, more accountable
government, and much more. In adopting theSDGs, all countries have pledged to prioritise
universal Internet access, and to use ICTs toempower women.
But much hard work lies ahead if weare to translate this vision into reality. A
formidable gender gap in Internet access,digital skills and online rights exists - our
Women’s Rights Online research shows that inmany communities, women are 50% less likely
than men to be online and 30-50% less likely
to use the Internet for economic and politicalempowerment. Women face many barriers including high costs, lack of know-how, and ascarcity of relevant and empowering content as well as social and legal obstacles to speaking
freely and privately online.
The Web Foundation and partners have
prepared these gender audits to help countries
assess what they need to do to overcome thegender digital divide. IT for Change has taken
the lead, in consultation with other national
stakeholders, on identifying concrete steps
that government can take in the next year toaddress the challenges and gaps identified.
We hope that this report card and action plan
will spark debate and galvanise policy change.

A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY:
We based our scores on 14 simple indicators for which reliable empirical evidence exists,and grading was done in the second quarter of 2016. See the accompanying overview
for a description of the indicators and sources used. A full methodology is available onour website.

Produced in collaboration with:

With support from: