Gender Equality in Digital Transformation:
UNDP’s Strategic Guide
for Inclusive Digitalization
PROJECT OWNER: UNDP NY, United States
The UNDP Guide for Gender Equality in Digital Transformation is a strategic document offering practical guidance to effectively integrate a gender perspective into digitalization processes. Developed within the framework of the UNDP Digital Strategy and the Gender Equality Strategy 2018–2021, this guide aims to ensure that technological advances do not replicate or deepen structural inequalities, but rather act as drivers of inclusion, empowerment, and equitable development.
The guide acknowledges the differentiated impact of digital transformation on women and girls, particularly in contexts with infrastructure limitations, restrictive socio-cultural norms, educational gaps, financial barriers, and digital security risks. Within this framework, six key areas of intervention are identified:
Understanding the gender digital divide: Addressing structural causes that limit equitable access to technology, including lack of connectivity in rural areas, low female digital literacy, scarcity of relevant content in local languages, and norms restricting women’s technological autonomy.
Innovative pathways to bridge the divide: Highlighting solutions such as digital finance to foster financial inclusion, digital platforms to facilitate commerce and gig economy employment, and emerging technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, and digital ID tools adapted to women's contexts.
Applying technology to overcome barriers: Promoting the use of online platforms as safe spaces for reporting gender-based violence, accessing government services, remote training, and strengthening support networks for women leaders and entrepreneurs.
Effective design of digital interventions: Advocating a user-centered approach, based on co-creation processes with women and girls, mapping key stakeholders, rapid prototyping, iterative testing, and empowering change agents within communities.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Including metrics to monitor program impacts, such as the number of women trained, technology adoption rates, women-led business creation, access to financial services, and participation in decision-making spaces.
Communication and outreach strategies: Recommending a combination of traditional and digital channels—from community radio to social media, gamified content, and hybrid mentorships—adapted to different levels of connectivity and literacy to ensure inclusive access to information.
The guide also encourages strategic partnerships with private sector actors, fintech companies, financial institutions, multilateral organizations, and community-based organizations to scale inclusive, sustainable, and context-sensitive solutions for the 21st century.
Ultimately, this guide not only provides practical tools but also presents a transformative vision of digitalization as an opportunity to close gender gaps, strengthen women’s economic autonomy, and build more resilient, just, and equitable societies.
This article was originally published in:
https://undp.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/CDOTeam/EbiSlMbsz41NlWMeq83QJ9EBYnd8_ng5HoOLnH7ZUMstrw?e=oriIsK
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