Insights from the APEC-DIWA White Paper (TEL 01 2023A)

Across the Asia-Pacific region, digital transformation has become the backbone of socio-economic progress. APEC economies are investing heavily in broadband infrastructure, digital public services, artificial intelligence, 5G networks, and cloud-enabled industries. However, as the APEC-DIWA White Paper demonstrates, this transformation remains uneven—and one of the most pressing disparities is gender. Women, who represent half of the region’s population, are still structurally underrepresented in the Telecommunications and ICT sectors that are driving the future of work and development.

The APEC-DIWA White Paper, officially titled Digital Innovation for Women Advancement in Asia Pacific (APEC-DIWA): White Paper on Strategies for Advancing Women’s Participation in the Telecommunications and ICT Sector, provides an extensive, evidence-based review of this problem. The White Paper draws on:

• A pre-event survey of APEC economies,
• A research study examining gender and ICT indicators across 15 APEC economies, and
• Insights and documentation from the first APEC-DIWA Workshop held in Manila in 2024.

Together, these components form a comprehensive cross-economy analysis of the structural, educational, socio-cultural, and institutional barriers that limit women’s participation in ICT.

The Gender Digital Divide as a Development Constraint

One of the most important findings of the White Paper is that the gender digital divide is not simply a matter of representation; it is an obstacle to inclusive development.

Despite high internet penetration in many APEC member economies, women’s actual tech usage continues to lag. The White Paper shows that women’s internet usage rates remain significantly lower than men’s—by 10% to as much as 30% in developing member economies—due to affordability challenges, cultural norms, and lower digital skills.

Skills gaps compound this. The White Paper reports that while women are strongly represented in general education, they are substantially underrepresented in STEM, often making up less than 30% of graduates in engineering, ICT, and advanced technical disciplines. Even in economies where women comprise the majority of science graduates, very few continue into STEM-related employment; Indonesia is a notable example—women make up more than 60% of science graduates but only 12% of the STEM workforce.

These patterns highlight that digital capability is deeply shaped by socio-economic and cultural factors. When women lack foundational and advanced digital skills, their ability to participate in the digital economy—whether through employment, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, or digital public services—is constrained.

Workforce Inequities and Their Socio-Economic Implications

The White Paper underscores that even when women successfully enter ICT-related education tracks, their entry into and retention within the workforce remain limited. Across APEC, women account for only 25–30% of the ICT workforce and hold an even smaller share of technical and leadership roles. In some economies, women occupy less than 10% of management positions in ICT.

This underrepresentation has broad development consequences. ICT is a rapidly expanding employer across APEC, and the scarcity of women in these sectors reduces overall labor force participation, lowers productivity, and limits the diversity of perspectives shaping digital innovation. Furthermore, persistent pay inequities—documented in the White Paper as ranging between 18% and 30% in some ICT sub-sectors—restrict women’s economic mobility and contribute to wider income inequality.

The White Paper also identifies workplace culture as a critical determinant. Women frequently experience subtle forms of bias, limited mentorship, and workplace environments that do not accommodate caregiving responsibilities. These factors drive higher attrition rates among women in ICT compared to men, exacerbating skills shortages in economies already struggling to meet digital labor demand.

Policy Fragmentation as a Barrier to Digital Inclusion

An important finding of the APEC-DIWA White Paper is that many APEC economies have strong gender policies and robust digital transformation strategies, but very few integrate the two. This policy fragmentation weakens the ability of governments to ensure that digital development benefits women equitably.

The White Paper points out that:

• Gender statistics are often collected separately from ICT indicators.
• ICT strategies frequently omit gender considerations.
• Gender strategies seldom include digital inclusion components.
• Coordination between gender agencies and ICT ministries is limited.

This misalignment results in digital public services, broadband programs, AI initiatives, and e-government platforms that do not fully account for gender-specific constraints or needs. The White Paper stresses that true inclusion requires embedding gender perspectives into the design, budgeting, and implementation of ICT and digital policies.

Gender-Disaggregated Data: A Foundation Still Missing

One of the most significant technical limitations cited in the White Paper is the lack of gender-disaggregated ICT data across APEC. Twelve economies reported insufficient funding for gender data, ten cited low technical capacity, and many acknowledged limited awareness of why gender-disaggregated data is essential.

Without reliable data on women’s digital access, skills, employment, leadership, online safety, or technology adoption, policymakers cannot design evidence-based interventions. Development partners cannot monitor progress. Industry stakeholders cannot benchmark inclusiveness.

The absence of standardized, comparable gender-ICT indicators across APEC weakens regional cooperation and undermines the ability to track long-term socio-economic outcomes.

The White Paper argues strongly that data is the backbone of inclusive policy design—and that without it, the gender divide remains structurally invisible.

Insights from the DIWA Workshop: Where Evidence Meets Lived Experience

The DIWA Workshop, held in Manila, provided rich qualitative insights that complemented the paper’s quantitative data. Delegates from 13 economies—including Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the United States, and Viet Nam—shared challenges and promising practices.

Youth voices were particularly compelling. Young women described the social and cultural biases they encounter in pursuing ICT pathways—ranging from discouragement to outright disbelief that women can excel in technical roles. These experiences reflect findings in the White Paper that micro-biases and cultural expectations significantly shape young women’s career choices and confidence.

Government representatives discussed national frameworks and institutional arrangements aimed at gender-responsive digital development. Case studies—such as Malaysia’s MyDigitalMaker initiative, China’s STEM programs for girls, and Mexico’s gender-disaggregated ICT surveys—illustrated how targeted interventions can produce measurable results when embedded in national strategies.

Private sector and civil society organizations added further depth. Their testimonies showed that flexible work arrangements, women-led digital literacy programs, and inclusive innovation practices can significantly expand women’s participation in ICT.

Together, the Workshop and White Paper emphasize that socio-economic transformation requires coordinated action across public, private, and community sectors.

Digital Inclusion as a Pathway to Socio-Economic Equity

The White Paper stresses that women’s digital inclusion is central to broader development objectives in APEC. Digital participation influences:

• women’s access to education,
• financial inclusion,
• health and social protection services,
• entrepreneurship,
• cross-border e-commerce,
• civic participation, and
• resilience during crises.

Where women are digitally excluded, they risk being left behind not only technologically, but economically and socially.

This was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, where digital access disparities directly affected livelihood continuity, access to relief services, and remote learning outcomes. APEC economies with gender-responsive digital inclusion programs mitigated impacts more effectively. The White Paper thus positions digital inclusion as a structural determinant of socio-economic resilience.

APEC’s Opportunity: Turning DIWA into a Regional Development Strategy

The White Paper concludes with a call for deeper regional cooperation. APEC, through its working groups—TELWG, PPWE, PPSTI, DESG, and IPEG—is uniquely positioned to mainstream gender inclusion across digital development agendas.

The White Paper recommends strengthened cross-economy mechanisms for:

• harmonizing gender-disaggregated ICT indicators,
• building regional mentorship and leadership networks for women in ICT,
• coordinating policies that connect digital skills, innovation, and gender equality,
• expanding digital inclusion models that have proven successful across member economies.
  

In socio-economic terms, these efforts support APEC’s La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth, the Aotearoa Plan of Action, and the Putrajaya Vision 2040, which collectively promote inclusive innovation, sustainable development, and equitable participation in the digital economy.

Women’s Participation in ICT Is Central to Inclusive Development in the Asia-Pacific

The APEC-DIWA White Paper makes a clear, evidence-based assertion: women’s participation in Telecommunications and ICT is not merely a gender equality objective—it is a central requirement for inclusive socio-economic development in the region.

When women are excluded from digital skills, technology jobs, innovation spaces, and digital public services, economies lose not only potential talent but long-term development gains. Conversely, when women are empowered to participate fully, digital transformation becomes more equitable, sustainable, and impactful.

The White Paper provides a rigorous, regionally grounded framework for addressing these divides. It is both a diagnostic and a roadmap—demonstrating the scale of the challenge and the feasibility of meaningful reform.

Ultimately, digital development in the Asia-Pacific will be measured not only by the sophistication of its technologies or the speed of its networks, but by its ability to ensure that all people—women and men, across all communities and socio-economic backgrounds—can participate in and benefit from the digital future.

NOTE: The APEC-DIWA White Paper on November 13, 2025 titled “Digital Innovation for Women Advancement in Asia Pacific: Strategies for Advancing Women’s Participation in the Telecommunications and ICT Sector (TEL 01 2023A)” was circulated by the APEC Secretariat for information purposes only, as not all TELWG members were able to endorse it (one member due to political leadership changes). Because full endorsement was not achieved, the report will not be published on the official APEC Publications site; however, member economies are encouraged by to share the document internally within their delegations. (As per Elspeth Davidson, Program Director,, DESG & TEL, and APEC Secretariat)