The business world is now online, but so is men’s violence.
In a time where customers, suppliers, and financiers are increasingly connecting through digital platforms, businesses simply can’t afford to stay offline. However, women business owners often encounter gendered barriers that hold them back from doing business online and participating fully in the digital economy. Gender gaps in internet connectivity and device ownership make it harder for women to access online spaces. This is especially true for women running MSMEs, as they have fewer resources at their disposal.
Women who do take their business online often experience abuse, harassment, stalking and exploitation, forcing them to prioritise safety over economic participation. Digital spaces have always been breeding grounds for hostility toward women, and recent rollbacks to user protections on social media platforms have only escalated the issue. Our latest research with Intuit and the World Bank’s ‘Women, Business and the Law’ project surveyed 3,000 women entrepreneurs in around 100 low and middle income countries, illuminating widespread experiences with online gender-based violence. More than half of respondents had been harassed on social media, and nearly a quarter had received verbal attacks, degrading comments, or unsolicited explicit images. These experiences push women out of online spaces, which are crucial for their business success and economic achievement.
Women’s digital inclusion is good for your bottom line.
Addressing online GBV and other barriers to women’s digital inclusion isn’t just a moral imperative, it’s an economic imperative as well. When women entrepreneurs do business online, a wide range of private sector organisations benefit—from social media platforms to fintech companies and everything in between. These women become customers of digital product and service providers, opening online bank accounts, creating websites and social media pages, and adopting emerging technologies like AI. Indeed, our research found that 88% of women entrepreneurs use WhatsApp and 74% use Facebook for business.
These digital tools support women to boost their business outcomes and improve their access to funding opportunities. This is a game changer for women entrepreneurs, who often face gendered barriers in accessing funding. In fact, eight out of 10 of the women we surveyed cited accessing finance as their top business challenge in 2024.
With increased financial backing, women can expand their businesses, providing vital services, creating jobs, reinvesting their earnings into their communities, fuelling local economies and creating a wave that ripples out to global economic growth. What’s more, banks and financial institutions stand to gain from investing in women’s businesses, as they often show higher return-on-investment compared to men’s.
The benefits of women’s participation in the digital economy are clear, but we cannot access these benefits until women are supported to safely access and utilise digital tools for their businesses.
Cross-sector collaboration could improve women’s online safety.
We must create an inclusive digital business landscape where women entrepreneurs can leverage advancements in technology without fear of harassment or abuse. Doing so will require collaborative action and accountability from individuals and organisations at all levels of society, across sectors and geographies. It won’t happen overnight, but there are steps we can—and must—take now to boost women’s online safety and increase their digital inclusion.
It’s crucial that we provide accessible, free of charge, women-centred training programmes that enable women to build skills and confidence in key areas of digital business. This supports them to feel more prepared for navigating the challenges and threats associated with the online business world.
At the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, we work with corporate and government partners to provide such training to women in low and middle income countries. Our programmes are intentionally designed to enhance women’s digital literacy and encourage their adoption of digital tools for business.
For example, our award-winning HerVenture app provides bite-sized lessons that build women’s business skills in areas such as digital marketing, e-commerce, and mobile money, to name a few. It can even be used offline, which is crucial for women who lack reliable internet access or electricity.
However, as the digital landscape rapidly evolves and grows, so do women’s support needs. Our research revealed an appetite among women entrepreneurs for skills and training on topics such as artificial intelligence and online safety, areas that are not yet offered by the Foundation, nor our sector peers. We hope to develop such training, particularly in online safety, with support from corporate partners.
This MSME Day, we urge the private sector to act.
Despite their size, women-owned MSMEs make massive contributions to the world around them—contributions that we all benefit from! The private sector has a key role to play in combatting online violence and bringing women into the digital economy.
We’re calling for:
- Tech companies to implement safer digital spaces for women entrepreneurs.
- Corporates to partner with NGOs to deliver targeted training programmes in online safety and other key topics, equipping women entrepreneurs in LMICs with the skills they need to thrive in the digital business worlds.
- Social media and e-commerce platforms to strengthen digital safety measures and address the risks faced by women entrepreneurs.
Read our report “Empowered or Undermined: Women Entrepreneurs & the Digital Economy” for our full insights and recommendations.
