Digital Skills Acquisition: Barriers Among Unemployed Women

• By Gladys Ehindola and Oluwafemi Awopegba

Background

Access to digital skill acquisition is pivotal to increasing job opportunities among unemployed female populations. This implies that female job applicants are equally expected to acquire digital skills to multiply their chances of finding a job. Research by Csordas (2020) found a significant relationship between the acquisition of digital skills and employment in countries with high unemployment rates among the skilled population. Thus, it is essential that women are equipped with employment-relevant skills that prepare them for the skill-requirement challenges of the global economy (Bello et al., 2013).

Female job seekers with digital skills will generally succeed in finding employment and can access more opportunities with or without a tech background (International Telecommunication Union, 2021). With limited access to digital skills, women may fall further behind in the world of work, thus creating more gender gaps and occupational segregation. An opinion article narrates how access to the internet in rural Belfast was a struggle for out-of-job citizens needing to apply and submit online applications.

Digital skills can potentially improve a woman’s living standards, and as a result, those without jobs should not be left behind. This means that a person who owns a digital device is more likely to find job opportunities than those without. Therefore, access to the internet is necessary to stay connected. Access to smartphones, tablets, or computers can help stay-at-home moms (nursing mothers, female breadwinners) or out-of-job women to keep learning at home while balancing family responsibilities.

For instance, a network partner Digital Devices grant with the Australian Government is helping community organizations through their program to build a device loan library for those who may not be in paid employment or self-employment but are currently available for work or have difficulty enrolling for digital sessions. Devices can, therefore, serve as an effective active labor market policy tool to escape unemployment (Saner, 2012)

There is a need to boost female participation, particularly in tech fields, to increase the count of those online. Being online can expand opportunities for entering or re-entering tech fields, eventually promoting the internet’s widespread use. Countries with high female unemployment rates, such as Yemen, Greece, Lesotho, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, attribute this increase to gender disparities and biases, rapid rural-urban migration, social factors, etc. (Elisha Sawe, Aug 2018)

Evidence

To uncover the barriers to acquiring digital skills among women not employed in a technology role, we examined the Tech4Dev Women Techsters Bootcamp 2.1 application process. The applicants’ information and perception of digital access from the initial application to their admission and course commencement were traced.

Since the Bootcamp has been designed to provide access to technology skill-up opportunities to women, we zero out gender as a factor for access and delve deeper into other dimensions that represents a barrier to access to digital skill, particularly for unemployed women looking to enter or re-enter the technology labor market. Some of these barriers include ownership of digital devices, residence in rural areas, cost and difficulty of training, and educational background, among others.

From the application stage, 6,965 women applied for Bootcamp 2.1. Based on the hypothesis of the study, it is expected that unemployed women may not have an educational background in technology, reside in rural areas, and have daily activities that do not involve the use of technology. The result of the analysis shows that the proportion of those who were unemployed (17.3%) that lived in rural areas was higher than that of those who were employed (14.5%) and resided in rural areas.

Similarly, the proportion was higher among the unemployed than the employed of those who received non-technology-based education, had daily activities that did not involve the use of technology, and owned a well-functioning computer. Thus, we infer that for the unemployed, the above-identified factors have the potential to serve as a barrier towards accessing digital training and skills.

To examine the barriers to unemployed women further, we break down the definition of unemployment from the simple “out-of-job” definition to capture “out-of-tech-job” unemployment among women. This definition is captured in the baseline responses of the women accepted into the Bootcamp 2.1 training. In total, there were 1,076 women who filled out the baseline survey. The women’s perception of digital skills training was assessed. Needless to say, the evidence shows that the proportion of out-of-tech-job unemployed (51%) was significantly higher than those already employed in tech (33%) for women who did not have prior digital skills training.

Of the women for whom Bootcamp 2.1 was their first digital skills training, we further assessed their perception of the cost, difficulty, and gender bias of digital skills acquisition. The analysis shows that the fraction of the out-of-tech-job unemployed was higher than that of those employed in tech and felt digital skills acquisition was expensive, difficult, and was for boys. Although the findings were statistically insignificant, the findings suggest that women who are out-of-tech-job unemployed face a bigger hurdle to surmount the barriers to digital skills acquisition.

Conclusion

While finding decent jobs can be difficult, the prospects of losing a job and finding another are more demanding for women. It is critical to equip the unemployed with digital skills. This article uncovers the Women Techsters Bootcamp 2.1 beneficiaries’ record at the application stage to capture their perceptions of the difficulty in acquiring digital skills. This is so that there is an understanding of the prospects of digital skills among out-of-job beneficiaries before equipping them with actual digital skills and employment.

To acquire digital skills, the findings point to the fact that making devices affordable is critical to increasing the number of women’s use of digital devices and online presence. Furthermore, evidence provides insight into the barriers among unemployed beneficiaries, including residing in rural areas, having limited technology use, and lacking a well-functioning computer. These barriers clearly emphasize some challenges out-of-job beneficiaries face while accessing digital skills acquisition.

In conclusion, female job seekers aspiring to work within tech or non-tech organizations are encouraged to acquire digital skills, given the evolving pattern of the job market (Caliendo, 2016). Unemployment is, however, established as a barrier to digital skill acquisition among women. Therefore, it is essential to support job seekers to enable them to respond favorably in the digitalized world of work.

References

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