Empowering women through digital skills in Argentina: A tale of two stories

Solange Martinez Demarco

doi:10.14512/tatup.28.2.s23

Authors

Solange Martinez Demarco International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW), University of Tübingen (DE) sol.martinezdemarco@izew.uni-tuebingen.de

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.28.2.s23

Keywords:

smart economics, women empowerment, gender equality, gender digital divide, Argentina

Abstract

“Promoting gender equality is smart development policy,” says the World Bank. In line with this narrative, many companies have promoted gender equality in terms of bridging the gender digital divide. In Argentina, a growing number of grassroots initiatives sponsored by corporations have emerged and provide training in digital and soft skills as well as entrepreneurship and leadership opportunities. Without denying the efforts, importance, and value of the work of these groups, this paper studies some of the contradictions inherent to the increasing power that corporations have in the discourse and practice of reducing the gender digital gap. My argument is that these projects contribute to reinforcing current economic, social, and geographical divides, to discriminating against gender non-conforming people, and to further limiting government intervention in this area.

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