Jobs Interventions for Young Women in the Digital Economy

Dear Colleagues,  Digital jobs were proliferating well before the COVID-19 crisis. Now, prompted by the compulsory lock-down as a result of the pandemic, organizations which have not suspended their operations have accelerated the digitalization of their businesses. The increase in digitalization can create more opportunities, especially for young people. The key drivers for these opportunities include: a) wider use of the internet (which cuts search costs and makes it easier for workers and employers to nd each other, irrespective of location); b) increasing share of work that is digitalized, and can thus be disaggregated and geographically distributed changing the organization of work; and c) a greater range of digital work that is inclusive, allowing people with even basic digital skills and literacy to work on simpler tasks.

But without appropriate policies these new opportunities in the digital economy may further exacerbate existing inequalities between and within countries. For example, persistent inequalities in access to good quality jobs between men and women are prevalent in the digital economy such that the global proportion of women using the internet is 12% lower than that of men. While addressing the factors that lead to mobility and labor participation constraints among women remains critical, digital work can be transformative for young women by allowing them to work remotely. In addition, digital work can also help move women into higher-paying jobs and reduce longstanding occupational sex segregation, especially in the technology sector. There is also a need to identify how developing countries -especially those facing a youth bulge -could position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities of digital work while preparing for the coming effects of technological change.
The publications featured in this digest show how digital jobs can provide an opportunity to close the gender gap by increasing young women's access to earnings, productivity, and empowerment, provided proactive efforts are made to address the multiple constraints that prevent women from accessing these jobs. Finally, we conclude with a selection of articles that explore the gender implications of COVID-19. Incorporating the most recent labor market information available, the report details the youth labor market situation around the world. It updates world and regional youth labor market indicators, and gives detailed analyses of medium-term trends in youth population and labor force. The 2020 edition discusses the implications of technological change for the nature of jobs available to young people. It focuses on shifts in job characteristics, sectors and skills, as well as examining the impact of technological change on inequalities in youth labor markets. The study highlights the importance of basic search skills as a source of labor market frictions and contributes to the evidence on which type of job search assistance is more effective for different types of job seekers (including women).
Viollaz & Winkler | Working Paper | March 2020 The article investigates the link between digital technologies and female labor market outcomes. The article nds that while internet adoption increases female labor force participation, it has no effect on male labor force participation.

Engendering ICT: Toolkit for World Bank Task Team-Leaders
World Bank | Report | 2018 The toolkit draws on the Bank's corporate gender agenda, which states that 55% of all projects should be gender related. It identi es speci c barriers in each ICT intervention and suggests targeted actions that leverage existing knowledge.

World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends
World Bank | Report | 2016 The report acknowledges a need to allow digital technologies to bene t everyone by closing the remaining digital divide -especially in internet access, and complementary skills and capabilities.

WBG & S4YE | Brief | November 2019
The brief is part of the Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) Knowledge Brief series focusing on the design and implementation of youth employment programs. It examines strategies the World Bank's 'Digital Jobs in Nigeria' pilot project team adopted to help vulnerable youth in con ict-affected areas to leverage employment opportunities in the digital economy.

Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019
GSMA | Report February 2019 The report focuses on three aspects: i) It provides details on the size of the gender gap in mobile ownership and mobile internet use in LMICs; ii) It identi es the barriers to mobile ownership and mobile internet use; iii) Finally, it concludes by providing an estimate of the economic impact of closing the mobile internet gender gap and further provides information on the bene ts.

EQUALS Global Partnership | Report 2019
The report outlines the persistence and severity of the digital skills gender gap and provides a rationale for interventions. It also sets out recommendations to help women and girls develop and strengthen digital skills.

Driving Toward Equality: Women, Ride-hailing and the Sharing Economy
International Finance Corporation | Report 2018 The report sheds light on how the emergence of ride-hailing is affecting women's work and mobility and how companies across the sharing economy can ensure women's equal participation and gain.

OECD | Report | 2018
The report explores a range of factors that underpin the digital gender divide and strengthens the evidence base for policy making by providing policy directions for consideration by all G20 governments.

S4YE | Report | 2018
The report identi es lessons learned in overcoming supply and demand-side barriers to youth digital employment, based on past and ongoing programs implemented by S4YE coalition members.

Digital Public Works -A Viable Policy Option for the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Jobs Crisis?
Michael Weber | Blog | April 2020 The article is part of a new blog series "Confronting the Jobs Impacts of COVID-19" launched by the Jobs Group which identi es what governments and international organizations can do to support workers and rms to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. In the 8th blog post on Digital Public Works, the author argues that public works can be modernized using digital technology to leverage access for low-income households and communities -including women who may face gender-based constraints working outside the home.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women
UN | Report | April 2020

What COVID-19 Has Taught Businesses about Digital and the Human Connection
The report identi es the need for all national responses to include women and girls (with regards to their inclusion, representation, rights, social and economic outcomes, equality and protection) at the center of all policy making to rectify longstanding inequalities.
Forbes | Blog | April 2020 The article discusses how company projects that were previously done manually are being innovated in real time to be done remotely, and how videoconferencing has helped teams to stay connected.

COVID-19: Emerging Gender Data and why it Matters
UN | Website | April 2020 An ongoing collation of live data collected by UN on COVID-19. It bridges the gender data gap by providing details on how COVID-19 is impacting women and girls.

Gender Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
World Bank | Report | April 2020 The report shows that during a pandemic, although women and girls are often affected negatively, with appropriate policies they can be actors for change.

How will COVID-19 affect Women and Girls in Low-and Middle-Income Countries?
David Evans | Website | April 2020 The paper argues the need to keep women's rights and needs at the center of all responses. A rst step in achieving this is by encouraging women to be part of the teams designing these responses.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality
Alon, Doepke, Olmstead-Rumsey & Tertilt | Working Paper | April 2020 The paper provides results on how the economic downturn is going to affect women and men differently, and what the main long-run repercussions for gender equality may be.

The coronavirus is not genderblind, nor should we be
Grown & Sanchez-Paramo | Blog April 2020 The article identi es the need to build an evidence base for policy making by generating high-frequency data on the gender impacts of COVID-19, identifying the existing risks, and ensuring that policy responses and interventions focuses on both males and females.
World Bank | Blog April 2020 The article identi es the need to protect all households in need, including informal sector workers, through direct cash transfers and home deliveries of basic staples and key items of daily use. Cash transfers to women, in particular, will ensure their use for family needs.