Tag: skill development for digital economy

The COVID-19 pandemic carved out a prominent role for digital technologies in enabling economic transactions. However, the gender divide in access to digital technologies hurts women’s ability to participate in the labor force. This blog explores the nature of women’s work and how digitization shapes it. We outline the opportunities and challenges in the digital economy and offer recommendations to ensure a fair digital economy for women.

The rapid digitization of work in the informal economy offers an opportunity to increase women’s participation in the labor force. However, women continue to grapple with a disproportionate burden of unpaid work at home. Thus, any tangible increase in women’s participation in the labor market will call for adequate social protections that reduce this burden. This blog discusses the importance of reimagining the social protection architecture for the digital economy.

The world is experiencing a digital revolution and anticipating its potential to improve women’s empowerment. However, studies found that women are still struggling to enter the digital ecosystem due to many factors. This blog—previously published as an op-ed piece at The Jakarta Post—outlined women’s limited participation in the digital economy and the policy recommendations to close the digital gender gap. MSC took part in drafting the policy recommendations and discussed them in detail at the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment (MCWE) in Bali last August 2022.

India sees 13 million young people joining the workforce every year. Yet many cannot get employment. Overwhelmingly, 70% of the workforce is still engaged in the informal sector, which does not provide job benefits like the safety of tenure or a social safety net. Amid this, India is undergoing a digital transformation, offering a pathway for gainful economic opportunities for the young in India. In this blog, we discuss the need to expand the current skilling architecture in India to help the young thrive in the digital economy. The blog also offers specific recommendations on its implementation.