Digital access alone will not close the gender gap
For rural girls, the digital divide is no longer simply about whether a smartphone is available at home. The bigger question is who controls the device, who gets to use it and for how long.
The ASER data highlighted in the report shows that while smartphone access among rural adolescents is high, girls continue to lag behind boys in both smartphone skills and personal ownership. This gap becomes particularly important when education is increasingly dependent on digital resources.
A girl preparing for competitive examinations, applying for a scholarship or attending an online class may technically have a smartphone at home, but if she can access it only after her brother or father has finished using it, her access is neither independent nor equal.
This is where the digital divide becomes a gender and education issue. Rural girls can lose opportunities not because technology is unavailable, but because their access to it is limited by household priorities, social norms, safety concerns and lack of digital confidence.
The solution cannot be simply to put more devices into villages. We need affordable connectivity, access to devices for girls, digital-literacy programmes and safe community learning spaces where they can use technology freely.
“The real question is no longer whether rural India has smartphones. The real question is who gets to use them freely, confidently and meaningfully,” says K.B. Kothari, former Senior Advisor, UNICEF-New York and former faculty member, IIM-Ahmedabad.
For schools, the message is clear: digital literacy must become part of girls’ education, not an advantage available only to those who happen to control a device at home.
