Right now, around the world, digital access is crucial, becoming essential for everything, communication, education, employment, and also amplifying our voices in many issues, including women empowerment. Every people, now can access endless sources of information. Yet, nearly a quarter of people in many countries remain digitally excluded, and globally, one-third of the world’s population is still unconnected from internet access. Young women are especially affected, in low and middle income countries, in which they face significantly more obstacles to connectivity than young men. This phenomenon of digital divide is not just about technological aspects, but also affecting leadership, opportunities, and equality.
Digital divide may be phrases quite unfamiliar, but the definition is often described as a matter of devices and internet access to people. These problems include limited financial resources, cultural restrictions, safety concerns, and lower exposure to digital skills. Even when access is finally granted, the internet is still even a safe place for them to explore online spaces.
This digital divide became even worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and certainty became impossible to ignore. All events, aspects of life becoming digital, including the basic rights for children and girls such as schools, and this is a risk for people who don't have internet access. Many lost access to education, initiatives, peers, and also health information. As the UN Secretary-General warned, the digital divide had become “a matter of life and death. This is a statement that makes sense, especially in Indonesia that has one of the most active internet users in the world, but ironically, in remote areas, there isn't really enough access to access the internet and go to school at such a difficult time.
Seeing this problem, Girls Can Lead is concerned about the future of the youths, especially women and girls. The access and representation of them is also the reason why we run our programs throughout the years. In this era, we also believe that digital is a crucial thing, and in sessions and also group discussions, we help young girls and women to understand about gaining access in a digital era and eventually, give them bigger and better opportunities. This can also lead them to build their communities and also give back to their surroundings, a positive loop that we want to achieve.
An insight from research shows that digital is not only about getting access to all the technology and application, but also about confidence. The means of confidence is about technology being used, and also feeling safe in using the internet, application, and social media. For the leadership aspect, this is very crucial. It is because online platforms are a “bridge” for reaching out, organizing initiatives, expressing opinions, and building community or personal branding. Without confidence, they will be limiting their visibility and influence in digital spaces where decisions and narratives are increasingly taking shape.
As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in many of our aspects of life, such as work, classrooms, and also in life as general, inequalities become more severe. In basic, people who feel more digitally confident tend to have more positive experiences with AI, because they're already familiar and used to the internet, while those with lower confidence feel fear, confusion, or distrust towards AI. But for a long term, if women and girls are already excluded from the digital world, they are likely to be excluded from AI or internet opportunities in the future.
In the matters with AI, Girls Can Lead take a part in initiating events. On March 18, 2025, we launched and conducted Masterclass: AI Is Your Ally, which aims to educate and raise awareness about AI tools and ways that can be beneficial for enhancing careers. This event is a part of our International Women’s Day (IWD) Celebrations, which we insert about the digital divide topic to address this problem through our IWD celebrations.
The divide between the internet and people varies throughout the world, especially in Indonesia. So the ways that can decrease the gap is expanding affordable access, improving internet and data safety skills, and also fostering digital confidence. In Girls Can Lead we try to make women and girls have a safe place for them to learn and grow, including developing their leadership and confidence to help them tackle the digital divide.
In the future, we hope that we can do more programs related to digital divide, and also work with communities that focus on the digital divide issues, especially about the safety concerns, and also digital literacy. Other than that, we also hope to collaborate with the local leaders and government to tackle this matter through workshops and mentoring.
In this very fast, evolving world, women and girls are at risk of losing their chances and opportunities to take a step forward without digital inclusion. Other than that, there must be collaborations and initiatives from various stakeholders, including initiatives, government, and also the awareness of woman and girls herself to increase their knowledge about internet safety and use it wisely.
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