Digital Literacy and Gender Inequality: Empowering Tribal Women in India’s Digital Era

A statewide digital India plan was unveiled by the government in August 2015 with the goal of digitizing all element of everyday life transactions in India. On the other hand, women aren't specifically included as a target demographic for digital literacy in the policy documents. Nevertheless, digital literacy important for all people; therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate how it has affected women. In light of the difficulties faced and the government's plans to close the digital gender gap, as well as socioeconomic status, this study represents a first effort to do just that in the Alirajpur tribal area of Madhya Pradesh. Gender disparities in computer literacy have multiple obvious causes, such as differences in infrastructure, geography, motivation, and economic circumstances. Cultural taboos, patriarchal mindset, and cultural policing are some of the unseen factors that limit women's access to resources stemming from the traditional gender roles in the workforce; as a result, only 35% of Indian women are currently employed in STEM fields. There is a significant digital gender gap in developing countries, such as India, where women face systematic deprivation of digital and technological literacy in addition to unpaid household work. This further disempowers them and robs them of economic and decision-making powers. Only 39% of the world's population has internet access, with 77% living in developed countries and 31% in developing countries.