From climate shocks to the economic disruption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), future crises will require a new generation of leaders. Solving these complex problems requires flexible, empathetic thinkers with sharp digital skills. These leaders are already in our communities and classrooms: these are the girls and women who make up 50% of the global population.
Historically, we have seen women solve problems that might not otherwise be seen as problems. The dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochrane in the 1880s, initially to keep her porcelain dishes from breaking, but it also became a tool to save women time from household chores. Another common invention that changed the way we buy everyday groceries, the flat-bottomed paper bag was invented by Margaret E. Knight. In 1868, Knight invented a machine that cut, folded, and glued paper to create the flat-bottomed brown paper bag familiar to shoppers today. This machine enabled large-scale manufacturing of flat-bottom bags, increasing the speed of production.
We have seen a similar approach brought by young school going girls when they are given the opportunity to imagine and create solutions using technology. They become creators and innovators. They step into roles that social conditions often deprive them of. They stop simply consuming technology and start using it. We have seen girls create time-saving solutions for peeling garlic so that they can save their mothers’ time and their hands do not smell like garlic. When given access to AI, a group of 9th grade girls designed a bicycle companion based on their life experiences of starting their periods. She wanted an app that would help them understand periods better, where they could share their concerns about missed or irregular periods without any criticism and get information on how to manage periods effectively with tips on diet and physical exercise. What they wanted was a safe space to discuss their physical issues without criticism.
The hidden costs of this digital divide are high. Quest Alliance’s research on ‘Young people’s digital lives’ highlights the silent barriers shaping girls’ engagement with technology. While young men often easily claim online space, many girls navigate the Internet as “digital wallflowers”. They are cautious, self-disciplined and do not step outside arbitrary digital boundaries lest they embarrass their communities. Limited device access coupled with a deep fear of digital surveillance from family or community turns their digital journey into a hesitant undertaking rather than a habitual exploration. The girls also feared that their photos could be circulated through deepfakes. Sexist and misogynistic digital content is being promoted in mainstream social media, further reinforcing gender biases. The patriarchal norms that exist in our physical world are being recreated in the digital world as well.
This silent policing has drastic consequences. In focus groups conducted in secondary schools by Quest Alliance, boys described using the Internet to learn new skills and formulate new aspirations, yet girls were very cautious and stayed away from trying new things. This gap was clearly visible in how skills and awareness were influencing young girls’ digital agency. Girls are not empowered to explore and understand emerging technologies like AI that are changing our daily lives, often leaving them unable to take advantage of them, let alone think about creating AI solutions.
The urgency could not be clearer. UNICEF says nearly 90% of jobs worldwide already require digital skills, yet less than 30% of internet users in India are women. Furthermore, the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024 shows that women in South Asia are one-third less likely than men to use mobile internet. Without immediate, forceful intervention, the digital divide will become the most damaging face of gender inequality over the next decade.
From problem identification to AI solutions, programs that strategically blend technology education with a focus on gender equity are turning critical thinking and computational thinking skills into tangible community impact. Our experience across the country provides powerful evidence of this change.
For example, girls participating in Quest Alliance’s hackathon, ‘Hack to the Future’, recognizing the deep fear of harassment during nighttime travel, developed a GPS-enabled safety watch with a buzzer and emergency contact system to instantly alert trusted contacts with location data. Another team of girls focused on removing barriers to education, designing alert machines to notify school staff when sanitary pads are low, directly addressing menstrual hygiene issues that cause girls to miss school.
These innovative projects show the truth: When girls are given responsibility, advanced tools, and guidance, they naturally become compassionate leaders and innovators.
We see this same foresight applied to systemic challenges during the pilot of our groundbreaking AI Futures educational framework. Consider the students of Odisha. After witnessing chronic water shortages while living near a major lake, a group of high school girls considered the issue to be one of inequality. Water came daily from a nearby resort while their homes had to struggle for water every three days. During the workshop the girls were able to imagine a future with equitable water distribution in their district and after developing a critical understanding of AI, they were able to imagine how AI could be leveraged to reach their desired future. Their proposed solution was to design an AI-based ‘smart tap’ to monitor and ensure equitable water distribution based on household members and livestock.
These examples show that when girls are given advanced tools, space for critical thinking, and the opportunity to solve real problems, they naturally become innovators, forward thinkers, teachers, and compassionate leaders.
But empowerment cannot be achieved by simply distributing a device or enabling access by increasing enrollment numbers. This happens through developing agency and building the confidence and capacity to use these tools for self-expression, learning and leadership.
Our field experience consistently shows that when girls are supported through mentoring, strong peer networks and inclusive learning environments, they transform from passive consumers of technology to active creators. We see girls who were once hesitant to speak up, now confidently leading teams, mentoring peers and presenting at state-level forums. They design with empathy, prioritizing community solutions over competition. They prove that technology can be used for collective welfare.
The warning signs of exclusion are serious. Women constitute only 28% of the global AI workforce (UNESCO, 2023). When half the population is absent from digital platforms where civic life, innovation and policy conversations increasingly happen, the entire economy is affected. Girls do not alone have to bear the cost of being left behind; It is paid by families, communities and nations that lose half of their problem-solving capacity.
As India celebrates the International Day of the Girl 2025 under the powerful theme, “I am the girl I am, I lead the change: Girls on the front lines of the crisis,” this moment demands a paradigm shift in how we imagine these futures and what work needs to be done to get there. We need action at multiple levels involving different stakeholders. To start we need a better understanding of how digital spaces are being navigated and what types of digital content are being generated and disseminated, especially in the age of AI. We need to work with boys and men, and do the same with parents and communities, to break down gender biases and create a more equitable mindset. At the policy level, we need to focus more on girls completing secondary education, access to free and safe transport, hostel and residential facilities and scholarships to complete higher education. The education system itself needs to provide safe and inclusive digital ecosystems where girls can explore, experiment and learn and imagine without fear of surveillance or judgment. We need to encourage more girls to engage in non-traditional livelihoods including many STEM pathways and need a policy ecosystem to facilitate this.
Future crises, whether climate-related, technological or social, will require maximum flexibility, ingenuity and human empathy. Equipped with future skills and an enabling environment, girls become architects of equitable progress. As the country commits to empowering its youth, let us recognize and invest in the girls who are already demonstrating what a more just and resilient world looks like. They are the curious coders, community leaders, and change makers who will truly stand out as the first responders to the challenges of tomorrow.
This article is written by Neha Parti, Director, School Programs and Bhavana Parmar, Young Future Architect, Quest Alliance.
