“I believe the Internet is essential in this day and age” is a statement with which women in Asia unequivocally agree. That’s according to a survey of over 5,000 women across the region we conducted to understand better Asia’s digital gender divide. Women in Asia Pacific, whether they’re in Japan or India, value the Internet above all for the access it gives them to the information they want, and to communicate with people who are important to them. They also embrace the possibilities it offers for work and play.
But the digital gender divide remains. In some countries, women are half as likely as men to be online. In India, for example, just 21% of women use the Internet compared to 41% of men. The good news is the gap’s narrowing. In the Philippines, in fact, marginally more women are online than men.
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| Source: 2014 TNS Connected Consumer Study for Google |
Over the next few months, we’ll be digging into the data to show how the story varies from country to country. But at the regional level, some broad themes are clear:
1. The Internet still needs to prove its value to women
Many women in emerging markets who haven’t used the Internet doubt that it would be of use to them, or don’t know how to use it the way they’d want to. 35% of women across India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand can’t see any reason to access the Internet, and 30% say they don’t know how to do the things they’d want to do online. In contrast, just 18% of women across these markets are prevented from going online because access is too expensive.
2. Community is the most trusted source of Internet knowledge
Demonstrating what the web has to offer is a priority, and community learning is essential to unlocking the Internet for women in emerging markets. 73% of women who are likely to go online in these countries say they would prefer to receive information and instruction from friends and families. With this in mind, we have been working on creating opportunities, such as in
Thailand, for women to come together in telecenters to access the Internet, learn and be inspired to use technology. Or in
India, where we’re showing female students, housewives and professionals how the Internet is relevant to their day-to-day lives through search, video and email at government-run Internet centers.
3. Usefulness comes mixed with judgment
In developed markets, where Internet penetration is high, women also value the web as a tool to help them juggle dual roles in and out of the home. Ultimately, however, they face conflicting personal and societal expectations, and believe that neither society nor workplaces sufficiently cater for their roles as an employee and wife or mother.
More than 70% of working women in Australia and Korea believe the Internet can help improve the flexibility that they need in the workplace to meet their responsibilities in and out of the home. However, in Japan, organizational behaviour and cultural norms are at odds with this; just 43% of Japanese women think the Internet can help address the need for greater flexiblity at work. We recently started a
program to understand how flexible work styles, including the use of Internet-enabled tools, can gain more acceptance in the country.
These are just some of the insights that we’ve gleaned so far. We look forward to sharing and discussing learnings from the research in the coming months, and to working together to develop approaches that we hope will help more women get the most out of the Internet. In the meantime, you’ll find some of our survey data and can learn more about our existing programs on the
Women Will site.
Posted by Michelle Guthrie, Managing Director, Agencies, Google APAC and APAC lead for Women@Google
