Digital fluency can close gender gap

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business

To identify and better understand the role of digital fluency in workforce gender equality, a new report from Accenture stated the influence of digitalisation in the workplace and the increasing trend of women embracing the use of technology to become more knowledgeable, connected and effective, plays a key role in helping women achieve gender equality.
“With increasing digital fluency, women- currently an under-represented source of talent- will play a growing role in the workforce of the future. Businesses and governments should – Create training, mentoring and on-the-job learning for women. Also encouraging young girls to study science, technology, engineering and math to increase their digital fluency and improve their paths to employment,” said Omar Boulos, Regional Managing Director in the Middle East and North Africa, Accenture.
A new research report from Accenture ‘Getting to Equal: How Digital is Helping Close the Gender Gap at Work’, gave experiential proof that women are using digital skills to gain an edge in preparing for work, finding work and advancing at work. While women still lag behind men in digital fluency in all but a handful of countries, improving their digital skills can change the picture.
It is also stated that if governments and businesses can double the pace at which women become digitally fluent, gender equality could be achieved in 25 years in developed nations, versus 50 years at the current pace. Gender equality in the workplace could be achieved in 45 years in developing nations, versus 85 years at the current pace.
Boulos said, “Collaborate to increate digital fluency and encourage the use of social media channels as a means of finding employment would also contribute to closing the gender gap. In addition the increasing access to the internet also would be beneficial.”
According to the report digital fluency can catalyse women advance in their careers, however its impact has not closed the gender gap among executives — or extended to pay equality. It has been witnessed that men continue to be far more dominant earners by household for all three generations. The research found that, in the UAE, seven in 10 millennial and Gen X women surveyed aspire to be in leadership positions.
In the UAE, women use digital to prepare for and find work more frequently than men (73 percent and 64 percent, respectively). Yet, the research found that, when women and men have the same level of digital proficiency, women are better at leveraging it to find work. About 45 percent of all survey respondents in UAE – men and women combined—agreed that digital enables them to work from home; 44 percent said it provides a better balance between personal and professional lives; and 47 percent report digital has increased access to job opportunities.
However, digital fluency has also had a more positive impact on the education of women in developing countries like the UAE. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of women compared to 44 percent of women in developed countries said that the Internet was important to their education. Survey data also shows that women in developing countries are much more positive about the power digital has to level the playing field for women, 80 percent and 62 percent respectively.
Boulos concluded, “The potential pay-off is clear: women are poised to leverage their digital skills into promising careers that provide employers the skilled workers they need. With this, women will be able to pursue their careers and enjoy their lives outside of work, thanks to jobs that often include more flexibility.”