A4AI launches Costs of Exclusion report

The Alliance for Affordable Internet ( A4AI) has launched a new report dubbed ‘Cost of Exclusion Report’. The report estimates the economic impact of excluding women from the digital economy and underscores the economic opportunity that governments have to ensure the inclusion of women to drive a positive economic impact. The key findings from the report are the following:

  1. The digital gender gap is substantial with just over a third of women connected to the internet compared to almost half of men in the 32 countries that were studied.
  2. Countries have missed out on $1 trillion USD in GDP as a result of women’s exclusion in the digital world. 
  3. There are about $24 billion in lost tax revenues that could have been invested to improve education, health, and housing in the 32 countries studied.
  4. Governments are not adopting the policies they need to bridge the digital gender gap.   
  5. Closing the digital gender gap in these countries would deliver an estimated $524 billion increase in economic activity by 2025.