If digitally trained, women who make up the majority of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could hold the potential to accelerate national economic growth, write RMIT Vietnam experts.
Digital technologies must benefit everyone and include those who are unable to afford and fully optimize their potential.
While the digital platforms have been promised to uplift the socio-technical and economic realms, women entrepreneurs still face perpetual socio-technical challenges that bury their actual citizenship.
Vietnam aims to boost its digital economy to $52 billion by 2025, by transforming household industries and MSMEs. The country's General Statistics Office reported that women make up over 44% of the urban workforce and 47% of the rural workforce in such businesses. While digital technologies have been reportedly able to narrow the economic gap, they have not fully benefitted low-income women participating in the digital economy.
Low digital literacy skills
E-commerce is rapidly growing in Vietnam and half of the Vietnamese population has used e-commerce platforms and services for various categories. The rise of digital shopping offers opportunities to overcome economic challenges and yet it is still difficult for low-income women entrepreneurs to keep up with digital demand due to low digital literacy skills.
Limited financial resources hamper their ability to learn and access digital technologies. They often have little time to learn due to the urgency of making a living. About 30.7% of Vietnamese women in the informal sector, including MSME workers, work more than 48 hours per week (5.9% higher than formally employed workers).
Low digital literacy skills make it difficult for low-income women entrepreneurs to keep up with digital demand as they cannot utilize e-commerce platforms, social media marketing, digital payment, or digital customer services securely and effectively.
Linh Phuong, who owns an online store, leverages various social media platforms to engage with her customers, allowing them to order products, schedule deliveries, and receive updates on product availability. However, Phuong said that she relied on her children for setting up social media profiles and handling any complications in digital transactions.
One of the interviewees shared that they had a tough beginning for learning to use their smartphones to sell more stuff and most women business owners around them are intimidated by technology, such as food ordering apps because they are confusing for middle-aged or older women, and nobody gives them a step-by-step instruction. Therefore, they have little to no improvement in revenue or profit.
Vulnerability to online threats
The rise of the digital economy has also brought new threats to low-income women entrepreneurs. Nearly 90% of victims of online scams in Vietnam are female. As they try to keep up with digital trends to grow businesses, they become prone to misinformation, phishing, scams, identity theft and financial fraud.
In addition to a limited ability to protect themselves from online threats, the urge to keep up with digital trends has outweighed the need to safely access the online sphere. About 62% of low-income woman entrepreneurs face difficulties in verifying online information. A large proportion of them are also not familiar with devices, tools, and steps to protect their personal data in the digital space, such as incognito browsers, deleting browsing history, VPN, blocking other websites to collect data or virus detection software.
A lack of opportunity to access education poses other barriers to absorbing information related to data privacy and safety, making them more vulnerable to online crimes compared to other demographics.
As part of their business activities, women entrepreneurs often disclose their phone numbers on social media which opens the door to malicious actors who exploit their personal information, and “that threatens me”, said another interviewee.
By empowering low-income women entrepreneurs with digital skills, knowledge and support networks, we can unlock their entrepreneurial potential, enhance their competitiveness, and create opportunities for more economic autonomy.
The research team also said that to harness the full potential of digital technologies and mitigate the risk coming from it, concerted efforts are needed from the government, policymakers, women’s unions, and relevant stakeholders.
The research team delivered a series of digital literacy training to a group of low-income women entrepreneurs in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. They then transferred the knowledge they gained from the training to more than 230 women across the country. While increasing digital literacy skills remains important, mitigating the risks presented by digital technologies is a new challenge that requires an immediate response.