18 August 2026, Islamabad: UN Women Pakistan, in partnership with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and with the support of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), hosted the National Policy Dialogue on Advancing Women\u2019s Participation in Pakistan\u2019s Digital Economy and launched Women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Pakistan, a comprehensive national report mapping women\u2019s participation in Pakistan\u2019s digital economy.The dialogue brought together stakeholders from government, the private sector, the mobile industry and development partners to discuss the report\u2019s findings and identify practical pathways to advance women\u2019s participation in Pakistan\u2019s rapidly evolving ICT sector.Speaking at the event, Ms. Fahmida Iqbal Khan, Deputy Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan, highlighted the importance of translating evidence into coordinated action. She said, \u201cThis report gives us a clear national picture of where women stand in Pakistan\u2019s digital economy and where the gaps remain. The findings are a call to action for all of us. Data alone does not close gender gaps; it is what we do with it, together as government, industry, and development partners, that will determine whether Pakistan\u2019s digital transformation truly includes women.\u201dMs. Rabia Awan, Deputy Director General, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, highlighted the importance of gender-disaggregated data. She said, \u201cThe report provides a comprehensive understanding of the landscape of women\u2019s participation in Pakistan\u2019s digital economy at the national level. It has strengthened our understanding of where our national data systems need to go to better capture women\u2019s participation and identify existing data gaps. This evidence provides an important baseline for informed policy development. Reliable, gender-disaggregated statistics are the foundation of sound policymaking, and PBS remains committed to working to close these data gaps so that no woman is left uncounted in Pakistan\u2019s digital progress.”Produced under the Digitalization for Women Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) project, the report provides new, gender-disaggregated evidence across four key dimensions of the ICT ecosystem: education and digital skills, employment, entrepreneurship and leadership. The findings show that while Pakistan has made significant progress in improving women\u2019s digital connectivity, substantial structural barriers continue to limit women\u2019s participation in one of the country\u2019s fastest-growing sectors.Following the presentation of the findings, a multi-stakeholder panel discussion titled \u201cFrom Data to Action: Advancing Women\u2019s Participation in Pakistan\u2019s ICT Sector\u201d brought together representatives from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), GSMA, and Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) to discuss how the report\u2019s findings can be translated into concrete commitments across government, industry and the mobile sector.UN Women Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to supporting initiatives that advance women\u2019s digital inclusion and economic empowerment in Pakistan, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 5 on Gender Equality and SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth.About Women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)in Pakistan Report: The report puts forward recommendations across seven priority areas: digital infrastructure and connectivity, education and digital skills, employment, entrepreneurship, leadership, digital safety and governance. These recommendations are intended to guide coordinated action by government, the private sector and development partners in the years ahead.\u2022\tThe report finds that Pakistan has narrowed its mobile internet gender gap sharply, from 25 percent in 2024 to 8 percent in 2025. However, the country continues to have the widest mobile phone ownership gender gap among countries surveyed globally, with only 68 percent of women owning a mobile phone compared to 93 percent of men.\u2022\tWomen also remain significantly underrepresented in the labour market. Female labour force participation stands at 22.7 percent, compared to 68.7 percent for men, with women more likely to be concentrated in lower-value freelance work rather than higher-paying technical and technology-related roles.\u2022\tWomen\u2019s participation in technology entrepreneurship also remains limited. Only 21 percent of startups supported by Ignite since 2018 are women-led, while just 5.7 percent of women are self-employed, compared to 29.6 percent of men.\u2022\tThe report further finds that as Pakistan\u2019s digital economy shifts towards higher-value fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing and data analytics, women risk being left further behind unless training, employment and hiring pathways are deliberately redesigned to ensure their inclusion.The findings underscore that expanding access to technology alone is not sufficient to close the digital gender gap. Women need equitable opportunities to develop relevant skills, access decent work, build businesses, take on leadership roles and participate in shaping Pakistan\u2019s digital future.About the D4WEE ProgrammeThe Digitalization for Women Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) project, supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and implemented by UN Women Pakistan, aims to enhance women\u2019s access to digital skills, entrepreneurship opportunities, and economic participation through inclusive learning spaces, innovation, and strategic partnerships across Pakistan.About UN WomenUN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. It works globally to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, empower women, and achieve equality between women and men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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18 August 2026, Islamabad: UN Women Pakistan, in partnership with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,37,5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-newsbeat","category-public","category-science","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"\n