Digital Empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship: A Gendered Perspective

Abstract

The paper explains the role social entrepreneurship would play in digital empowerment, in this case, gender. The digital technologies continue to control the economic participation, access to information, and the social inclusion thus women still experience the structural barriers of digital access, digital skills, and digital agency. The concept of social entrepreneurship is the vital means of sealing those loopholes by incorporating the innovative digital style with the social mission. This paper explains how digitally empowered social enterprises have contributed to the empowerment of women regarding digital literacy, diversification of livelihoods and mitigating comprehensive adoption of digital economy.

The study is based on a mixed-method design with a combination of secondary data analysis and the selection of selected case studies to examine the gender-specific results of digital social enterprises in the field of education, health, finance, and e-commerce. The results demonstrate that women-led and women-focused social enterprises are significant in the minimization of digital divides by adjusting technology-based interventions to the socio-cultural context in the area. These programs do not only enhance the access of women to digital platform, but also empower them in making decisions, help them to become better entrepreneurs, and boost their socio-economic stability.

Nevertheless, the paper also singles out the enduring difficulties such as lack of access to capital, gender-based biases in technology ecosystems, and unequal policy provisions as such limiting the ability to scale and sustain such enterprises. The article states that social entrepreneurship as a form of digital empowerment is not gender-neutral and must be approached with specific, gender-responsive policies in order to create equal impact.

This study can be relevant to the body of research on digital inclusion, social entrepreneurship and gender studies by adopting a gendered approach to analysis. It provides policy and practice-based suggestions to enhance support systems that empower women-based digital social enterprises, by stating the necessity to include digital policies, specific capacity-building programs, and joint innovation ecosystems to promote sustainable and gender-equitable development.