IT Boom Leaves Indian Women Behind?

Women’s economic power in India is one of the country’s most untapped resources. Historical rates of economic participation by women in India have been low compared to many parts of the world, and have failed to rise significantly over the past few decades. Women's workforce participation, which includes self-employed work, is around 26 percent in rural areas and only 14 percent in urban areas suggested recent national level data. This rate declined by 1.7 percent between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. This also resulted in even less entrepreneurial engagement.

The 2010 report, Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity concluded that even in the mobile phone industry, which has experienced skyrocketing growth, there is a gender gap of 300 million fewer female than male mobile phone subscribers in the low and middle-income countries.

While the use of mobile and Internet technologies is considered attractive to many market segments, including women, their adoption rate among women has been lower, partly due to a number of obstacles that such technology adoption presents. ICRW’s previous research have indicated that while perceived to be gender-neutral, such technologies are often harder for women to adopt due to cost, literacy requirements, and lack of familiarity in use. Also, since technology often carries high value and status, it may be considered socially ‘beyond’ women, or inappropriate for them because of the exposure it provides to the wider world.