Turning Digital Inclusion into Reality for Rural Women
E-study on the gender digital divide in Nigeria
The Added Value of This Article
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The study shows the interfaces and linkages between
- Women in agri-food systems, their roles, needs and diverse circumstances
- Digital inclusion, including opportunities and constraints related to women’s access to, use of and benefit from digital technologies and services
Visual: © GIZ
The e-study on the gender digital divide in Nigeria provides projects with insights, evidence, and guidance on the challenges and opportunities involved in ensuring that rural women are included in digital activities.
It’s based on research conducted with women engaged in Nigeria’s agri-food systems, specifically Kaduna and Ogun States. It identifies a consistent set of barriers limiting women’s digital participation in the maize value chain, including:
- restrictive gender norms
- financial constraints
- low digital confidence
- language and literacy barriers
- inadequate digital solutions for post-harvest activities, processing and marketing
- weak digital infrastructure
- institutional exclusion
- increased risks of gender-based violence
The findings reveal important differences among women, showing that widowed women often enjoy greater digital autonomy than married women, while women with disabilities remain largely excluded from digital opportunities.
For those projects that are seeking practical implementation advice, the study highlights hands-on entry points for gender-transformative interventions. It looks at women-focused programmes delivered through mainly female implementation structures as a particularly effective approach to fostering safe and meaningful digital participation.
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About
The study has been co-developed by the SNRD Africa working group on Digital Transformation and the GIZ project Feminist Approach to Resilient Agriculture and Food Systems (FemHub).
Contact
Sabine Strelow (sabine.strelow@giz.de) and Birte Brecht-Drouart (birte.brecht-drouart@giz.de).
