DIGITAL DIVIDE


DIGITAL DIVIDE:

The digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology (ICT), and those that don't or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers, and internet connectivity. The digital divide creates a division and inequality around access to information and resources. Simply put, it is the gap between those with Internet access and those without it.

DIGITAL DIVIDE IN PAKISTAN:

Although access to digital services is improving in Pakistan, only 36.5 percent of its people use the internet. Figures reveal that 144.4 million people in Pakistan did not use the internet at the start of 2022, meaning that 63.5 percent of the population remained offline at the beginning of the year.

This digital divide in Pakistan is due to several reasons such as gender inequality and geography:

In Pakistan;

·        Only 50 % of women own a mobile phone compared with 81 % of men. This is equivalent to 22 million fewer women than men owning a mobile phone

·        Women in Pakistan are 49 % less likely to use mobile internet than men, which translates into 12 million fewer women than men using mobile internet.

·        For an estimated 11 million women in Pakistan, family disapproval is the key barrier to owning a mobile phone.

Internet accessibility does not follow a homogenous pattern all across Pakistan, and there remains a wide gap in the use of digital devices and related infrastructure based on geography (rural and urban). This, in turn, leads to the marginalization of certain communities of society, which reduces economic growth. The areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), have experienced the digital divide. The state machinery also uses this as a political tool, justified by the idea of national security. Likewise, in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Special Communications Organization (SCO) maintains a monopoly over the provisions of the internet.

 IMPACT OF THIS DIGITAL DIVIDE:

·        Worsening gender discrimination

·        Barriers to education

·        Lack of communication and isolation

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RUDA

Image
  RAVI URBAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY The Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RRUDP) is an urban development megaproject in Lahore District, Punjab, Pakistan that runs along the Ravi River in a northeast-to-southwest direction. It includes the construction of a 41,308-hectare (102,074-acre) planned city and the rehabilitation of the Ravi River into a perennial freshwater body. The project is to be completed in three phases. It is expected to be the largest riverfront in the world when finished Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) intends to develop urban areas of the province into sustainable, livable, and well-managed engines of economic growth. Urban development and its management are critically linked with sound, comprehensive, and strategic metropolitan-level long-term planning. Over the years, rapid urbanization has changed the socio-economic and physical characteristics of the cities. The physical growth of the cities has emerged in a very different way from the la...
Read more

DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs and SDGs)

Image
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: The Millennium Development Goals were eight international development goals set by the 189 UN member states in September 2000 and agreed to be achieved by the year 2015. All 189 United Nations member states, and at least 22 international organizations, were committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015:   1.       To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger   2.       To achieve universal primary education   3.       To promote gender equality and empower women   4.       To reduce child mortality   5.       To improve maternal health   6.       To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases   7.       To ensure environmental sustainability   8.       To develop a global partnership for d...
Read more