Unbundling Women’s Digital Trust
Unbundling Women’s Digital Trust
Trust informs how we think about our core relationships with family and friends, how we measure our sense of faith in situations working out for us—it is an intimate way to understand the human experience. Trust is not static but rather the ever-changing balance of our decision-making processes.
Will this person keep me safe? Will they fail or even betray me? Do I have recourse if something goes wrong? In an age where everything and everyone is online, the concept of digital trust becomes increasingly important.
Trust informs how we think about our core relationships with family and friends, how we measure our sense of faith in situations working out for us—it is an intimate way to understand the human experience. Trust is not static but rather the ever-changing balance of our decision-making processes.
Will this person keep me safe? Will they fail or even betray me? Do I have recourse if something goes wrong? In an age where everything and everyone is online, the concept of digital trust becomes increasingly important.
However, digital trust is often defined through its techno-centric lens— protections, cyber-secure software, data privacy and integrity. Knowledge on trust is also often devoid of the impact that gender relations have on users, leading us to a one-dimensional understanding of the user as a lone agent in their decision-making.
However, digital trust is often defined through its techno-centric lens— protections, cyber-secure software, data privacy and integrity. Knowledge on trust is also often devoid of the impact that gender relations have on users, leading us to a one-dimensional understanding of the user as a lone agent in their decision-making.
Aapti’s work enters the conversation from this point. Over the past two years, we have been unbundling the various schools of thought around digital trust—from psychological to sociological, environmental to technological—to think critically about a digital trust framing that solves for gendered realities. Through a combination of human-centered design and participatory vulnerability analysis, we conducted field work in urban and rural locations across four Indian states. The team spoke to hundreds of men and women of ages 12-50, comprising formally-employed and home-based workers, school-going adolescents and college students, mothers and fathers, and even critical service delivery touch-points for their communities.
Aapti’s work enters the conversation from this point. Over the past two years, we have been unbundling the various schools of thought around digital trust—from psychological to sociological, environmental to technological—to think critically about a digital trust framing that solves for gendered realities. Through a combination of human-centered design and participatory vulnerability analysis, we conducted field work in urban and rural locations across four Indian states. The team spoke to hundreds of men and women of ages 12-50, comprising formally-employed and home-based workers, school-going adolescents and college students, mothers and fathers, and even critical service delivery touch-points for their communities.
The research culminates in a report, an ontology of digital trust, a trust measurement tool, as well as a set of recommendations for stakeholders and reflections from related events.
The research culminates in a report, an ontology of digital trust, a trust measurement tool, as well as a set of recommendations for stakeholders and reflections from related events.
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Contributors:
Aditi Shah, Akshobhya Reddy, Antara Madavane, Astha Kapoor, Ava Mumtaz Haidar, Gautam Misra, Manvi Parashar, Suha Mohamed
Field partner:
Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
Aapti Institute
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Aapti Institute
37, Aga Abbas Ali Rd, Halasuru Yellappa Chetty Layout, Sivanchetti Gardens, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560042
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 India License.View a copy of this license at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/in/
Write to us at
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© 2025 Aapti Institute. All rights reserved.
Aapti Institute
37, Aga Abbas Ali Rd, Halasuru Yellappa Chetty Layout, Sivanchetti Gardens, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560042
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 India License.View a copy of this license at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/in/
Write to us at
Follow us
© 2025 Aapti Institute. All rights reserved.