Women and the Power of the Internet

Posted on | February 22, 2008 |

by Fara Warner

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to hear Meg Whitman, the outgoing chief executive officer of eBay, speak to a small group of women business and community leaders at The Henry Ford, a museum that includes many of the major inventions and innovations of the 19th and 20th centuries.

As Whitman discussed the power of eBay and the Internet to transform commerce, her comments reminded me of a report by The Economist in April 2006 on “womenomics.” The magazine argued that women—not the rise of the Internet, China or India—have been the major engine of global economic growth during the past several decades. The magazine’s argument was founded on this thesis: as women gained access to education, business opportunities and political power, they have boosted economies around the world far faster than expected. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. When you give 50 percent of your population—traditionally kept out of the paid economy—an education and put them on the path to creating businesses and wealth, what more would you expect than an economic boom? We only have to look at the U.S.—our present economic issues not withstanding—to see the truth of this argument.

The World Economic Forum also has found a correlation between sexual equality—as measured by economic participation, education, health, and political empowerment—and gross domestic production per person. Here is a link to a blog on “womenomics” and pdf of the study for more information.

What intrigued me about these two ideas—women and the Internet—as Whitman spoke was that The Economist may have missed a larger point about that economic growth. It may not be that women are more important than the Internet, China, or India in terms of economic growth, but that women have been a primary reason for why the Internet, China, and India have become so important to our global economic growth.

As Whitman noted, mothers often sell online from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. while their children are at school instead of adapting their lives to a corporation. Whitman noted that 1.3 million people make enough money to support their families—or add to their incomes substantially—by selling on eBay. While it’s unknown what percentage of those sellers are women, they likely make up a sizeable minority or even the majority.

The Internet, unlike many of the inventions I was surrounded by that evening—airplanes, automobiles, and steam engines—has given women a tool to create their own businesses without needing to tap large pools of capital, which is still difficult to come by for many women even in developed countries. With the Internet, all women need is some ingenuity, creativity and an Internet connection to become producers in the global economy. Finally, we have an innovation that doesn’t discriminate, but instead offers women everywhere opportunities to sell what they produce to support themselves and their families.

Women also have been at the heart of growth in countries such as China and India. In China, a growing number of women are breaking free from centuries of tradition that cast them as liabilities, not assets. As they move up the economic ladder, from farm to factory to the offices and high-rises of Shanghai, Chinese women are tracing the same path—albeit far faster—than women did in America and Western Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are showing the world—and their families—that they are as important to China and the world’s economy as their male counterparts. In India, women make up a sizeable population of the call center and outsourcing industries that have helped put India on the map economically. In rural areas in India, the Internet also is helping women sell what they produce around the world—directly and without having to pay a middleman.

At a time when many of us take the Internet for granted, it was inspiring to hear that Whitman still has as much passion for the technology as she did when she quit Hasbro for a job running a tiny start-up that wanted to connect buyers with sellers and vice versa. It was even more inspiring to consider that women—including Whitman—have been at the heart of making the Internet a powerful force in the global economy.

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