Invisible Market: Energy and Agricultural Technologies for Women's Economic Advancement
This research explores what it takes for technology initiatives, specifically in the energy and agricultural sectors, to reach and economically benefit women in developing countries through market-based strategies that have the potential for achieving scale and financial sustainability. It builds on ICRW's landmark paper, Bridging the Gender Divide: How Technology Can Advance Women Economically, which made the case for how technologies can create pathways for strengthening women's economic opportunities. Through a field-level investigation and interviews with experts, the authors examine how women's use of technology and their involvement in the development and distribution of a technology can not only advance women economically, but also can benefit enterprise-based technology initiatives by expanding their markets and helping them generate greater financial returns.
Key Findings
- Technology initiatives can benefit women while advancing scale and financial sustainability.
- Marketing efforts that specifically reach women or increase women's demand for and community acceptance of women's use of technology are important.
- Engaging women within the supply chain, particularly in retail and marketing, has the potential to create meaningful options for women to earn additional income.
- Focused efforts tailored to meet women's needs can enable women to purchase and benefit from technologies and generate results for initiatives and women.
- The technology initiatives have many of the necessary elements to establish financially sustainable, market-based supply chains.