Under the new initiative, ‘Digital2Equal’ led by IFC, a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group, seventeen leading tech companies have joined together to support this initiative focused on increasing opportunities for women. 

The companies participating include: Airbnb, Inc., Google LLC, LinkedIn, Didi Chuxing Technology Co, Elo7, Facebook, Giraffe, Jumia, Lazada, Lynk, Mercado Libre Inc, MyBank, Myntra Jabong, PayPal Holdings Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., SweepSouth and Uber.  

They will expand women’s access to jobs, assets, and business opportunities across their online platforms. Plans to close gender gaps in their workforce and goals aimed at improving opportunities for female consumers or providers of services and products on their online marketplaces are in the works, according to a release by IFC. 

“This is a win-win situation—great for women because they can take advantage of online work and entrepreneurship opportunities, and great for the economy because more talented women will be able to contribute,” said IFC Chief Executive Officer Philippe Le Houérou “With this initiative, online platforms are taking concrete steps to close gender gaps in the digital economy.”