Blog

Digital connectivity has become crucial for women’s social and economic empowerment in Bangladesh, offering unprecedented access to information, opportunities, and engagement. However, recent political upheaval, marked by the government’s collapse in August 2024, presents both risks and opportunities for advancing digital inclusion. This piece explores the importance of digital connectivity for women, the challenges posed by the current political situation, and how Bangladesh can leverage this moment to further women’s digital empowerment.

Digital Connectivity: A Catalyst for Women’s Empowerment

Digital platforms offer Bangladeshi women access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities that were previously out of reach. The rise of digital entrepreneurship, for instance, has enabled women to start businesses from their homes, breaking traditional barriers. Yet, barriers remain, including socio-cultural norms, digital illiteracy, economic constraints, and privacy concerns.

Despite the potential of digital connectivity, several barriers impede women’s access to and use of digital technologies in Bangladesh. Socio-cultural norms often restrict women’s access to mobile phones and the internet. A study supported by the WEE-DiFine Initiative at the BIGD illustrated that smartphones are considered taboo for women in some contexts, limiting their access to digital financial services. Furthermore, the Global Findex survey found that over 60% of unbanked adults in Bangladesh need assistance to use a financial account, with women being 12% more likely than men to report this.

Economic constraints also affect digital access. For many women, especially from low-income households, the cost of devices and internet services remains prohibitive. According to the white paper of BIGD’s WEE-Connect Initiative, while smartphone penetration rates have increased significantly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), gender disparities in meaningful connectivity—where women not only access but effectively use internet-enabled services—persist. Women face additional challenges such as limited autonomy over household spending decisions, restricted mobility, and lower levels of digital literacy, which further widen the gender gap. The WEE-DiFine Initiative’s white paper explores how digital financial services (DFS) can mitigate some of these barriers by improving women’s access to financial services through increased privacy and control over their finances. For example, digital accounts allow women to access loans and participate in market activities while adhering to cultural constraints on mobility and safety concerns. These trends naturally transition to a consideration of the larger external forces that can shape women’s digital inclusion, such as the political landscape.

The Political Landscape: A Moment of Risk and Opportunity

The political instability following the government’s collapse poses a threat to ongoing efforts aimed at promoting digital inclusion. Disruptions in funding for infrastructure and literacy programs may hinder progress. For instance, key initiatives aimed at expanding internet coverage in rural areas could be delayed or shelved due to shifts in government priorities. This would particularly affect women in low-income or remote areas, where access to technology and education on digital literacy is already limited. Without stable funding, the necessary expansion of broadband infrastructure or the continuation of mobile literacy training programs could be at risk, widening the digital divide.

Additionally, international donors and organizations that provide financial and technical support for these initiatives may hesitate to continue investments in an unstable political climate, further impeding progress. Any delays in policy implementation or shifts in government focus could disrupt long-term plans for ensuring equitable digital access for women. However, this period of transition also presents an opportunity to introduce gender-sensitive reforms that could advance women’s access to technology.

Interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has pledged to stabilize the situation, and with political will, this could become a turning point for empowering women through digital initiatives. Effective collaboration between the government, private sector, and civil society will be key to scaling these efforts. Programs like WEE-DiFine and WEE-Connect offer a model for fostering partnerships between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to promote gender-inclusive digital policies.

The Data Gap: A Critical Challenge

A significant barrier to promoting women’s digital inclusion is the lack of gender-disaggregated data. Without this data, policymakers struggle to create interventions that address the unique challenges women face in accessing and using digital technologies. This gap limits the potential for informed, evidence-based policies and risks reinforcing existing inequalities.

The call to action is clear: we need more investment in gender-disaggregated data collection and analysis in the digital sphere.

Initiatives like WEE-DiFine and WEE-Connect are working to fill this gap. WEE-DiFine supports research on the impact of digital financial services on women’s economic empowerment. Meanwhile, WEE-Connect expands this framework to include broader digital connectivity, generating data to inform policies that can survive political transitions and adapt to the rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Success Stories: Digital Platforms Empowering Women

Despite these challenges of unequal access and persistent gender inequities, several digital initiatives in Bangladesh and beyond demonstrate that technology, when informed by thoughtful research, can transform women’s lives. The collaboration between digital interventions and research is pivotal in two key ways: this approach helps tailor solutions to women’s unique needs by context, and can subsequently demonstrate the effectiveness of these interventions to policymakers, setting the stage to scale successful solutions. Here are two examples of how BIGD’s WEE Initiatives have supported research on digital platforms that contribute to empowering women:

One local success story is HelloTask, a gig economy platform that connects female domestic workers in Dhaka with short-term job opportunities, aiming to help women increase their earnings and gain greater control over their work schedules. However, despite their integration into the cash economy through wage earnings, very few of these female domestic workers robustly use digital financial services.

A study conducted by WEE-DiFine in collaboration with HelloTask revealed that, although most workers in the baseline sample had access to mobile phones and had used mobile money accounts, fewer than 5% had ever deposited money into their accounts. In response, the research team designed an intervention that included in-person mobile financial services (MFS) training. When many women struggled to attend this training due to travel difficulties and competing household responsibilities, the team adapted their approach. They introduced in-home training and automated refresher phone calls, offering a more inclusive solution that navigated barriers specific to these Dhaka-based domestic workers. Preliminary analysis reveals that the MFS training significantly increased women’s knowledge of mobile money, savings via formal channels, and women’s labor time and earnings, relative to the control group.[1]

Another example comes from a Kenya-based study in partnership with ACRE Africa. This case exemplifies how academics, armed with gender and economic theory, and knowledge of existing empirical evidence, can partner with implementers to develop and test solutions that work for women.

From the project’s inception, the research team worked closely with ACRE Africa to design an agricultural insurance product that addresses women’s unique needs. Recognizing that women often face distinct financial constraints and responsibilities, the team created an innovative policy, known as “timely pay insurance”, that allowed smallholder farmers to receive insurance payouts in installments during the growing season, or as a lump sum at harvest time. Additionally, the team employed a hands-on approach to explain payout options and gather farmers’ preferences for different payment schedules. Preliminary analysis hints at the merits of combining academic expertise with on-the-ground implementation knowledge – women were significantly more likely to adopt “timely-pay” insurance than traditional crop insurance.[2]

Thoughtful collaborations of this nature have the potential to lead to more effective and inclusive digital interventions that can improve women’s economic empowerment in the long run. Initiatives like WEE-DiFine and WEE-Connect are crucial springboards for these dynamic partnerships. BIGD’s WEE Initiatives support the design of interventions tailored to women’s specific needs, evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions, and ultimately generate the evidence needed to scale successful programs. By providing this empirical foundation, these initiatives enable policymakers to create inclusive, sustainable solutions based on evidence.

A Path Forward for Women’s Digital Empowerment

To fully unlock the potential of digital connectivity for women’s empowerment in Bangladesh, several key steps must be taken. Some are self-evident—expanding digital literacy programs, particularly in rural areas, and reducing economic barriers to devices and internet access are crucial steps. Additionally, ensuring online safety through stronger privacy protections will foster a secure digital environment for women. Finally, as argued above, prioritizing the collection of gender-disaggregated data on these interventions, both to inform their design and to generate valuable evidence, is essential for creating policies that address the unique needs of women. This evidence base is crucial, especially during a time of significant political change, as it can directly influence policy decisions and ensure that women’s voices are represented.

Collaboration between the government, academia, private sector, and civil society will be vital in scaling these initiatives. By focusing on these priorities and leveraging evidence to guide policy, Bangladesh can transform current political uncertainty into an opportunity for transformative change, ensuring that women are at the forefront of the country’s digital future.

[1] Rahanaz, M. and Wahhaj, Z. (2024). WEE-DiFine Initiative Final Report. Internal report submitted to BIGD: unpublished.
[2] Cecchi, F. and Kannan, S. (2024). WEE-DiFine Initiative Final Report. Internal report submitted to BIGD: unpublished.