Narrowing the digital gender gap in Guatemala
With a fiercely patriarchal society and one of the highest child marriage rates in Latin America, many girls in Guatemala do not get the same opportunities as boys. Tigo has teamed up with Sheva, an organisation dedicated to empowering girls and women in Guatemala, to use mobile technology to help level the playing field.
Tigo’s Conectadas (Connected Women) programme, which was launched in 2018, teaches girls and women aged 15 to 40 how to get the most out of mobile technology. Tigo and Sheva’s specially-developed micro-learning platform introduces participants to a whole new world of information – they learn how to manage their finances online, how to promote their businesses on social media and how to avoid harassment, for example.
Between 2017 and 2019, more than 30,000 girls and women across 16 regions of Guatemala have taken part in the Mujeres Conectadas workshops. Sheva describes the female population of Guatemala as “the greatest untapped force of change” – by giving girls equal access to mobile technology, they have the opportunity to improve their lives, expand their horizons and end the cycle of inequality.
