Digitization and Economic Empowerment of Arab Women: Challenges and Stakes

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the available opportunities and the constraints facing the paths of achieving economic empowerment for women by trying to consider opportunities to invest in digitization in lifting them out of vulnerability and poverty. The following issue is raised: In light of the data that confirm the low economic participation of women in the Arab world, to what extent can digitization be a conducive factor for greater integration of poor and marginalized women in the field of productive work. What are the main challenges and stakes related to this ? To dismantle this issue, a descriptive and analytical approach was used. It was based on national, regional and international numbers and statistics, and the available literature issued by official and trusted bodies. The study was done to support the analysis with evidence from the lived reality and the results of field sociological studies carried out under our supervision in Tunisia and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The paper reached a central conclusion that digitization has won more for privileged women and increased their empowerment, while the role of digitization in empowering marginalized, excluded and vulnerable women is still limited in the Arab region. Many women are still excluded from the cycle of digitization and from the possibilities of benefiting from the opportunities it presents. This is due to the general conditions that do not provide many advantages for these social segments in terms of the spread of the Internet, its quality and cost, and the cost of smart devices. The prevalence of the Internet and its flow in the details of social life in Arab countries remains directly related to higher income, better health status, and comfortable living.