New data from the GSMA, the industry group for mobile network operators, reveals that progress has stalled in efforts to close the substantial gender gap in mobile internet use in low- and middle-income countries.
Women are now 16% less likely than men to use mobile internet, up from 15% last year. That figure had steadily declined each year from 25% since 2017, and it’s the first time it has risen.
Across LMICs, women are 7% less likely than men to own a mobile phone and 18% less likely than men to own a smartphone, according to the data, which was released on International Women’s Day as a preview to the Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022 coming in June.
Women were hit particularly hard by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they could have the most to gain from mobile internet, including income-generating opportunities. But they also face unique challenges, including the affordability of handsets, which has only become a bigger challenge over the past two years.
While mobile connectivity has expanded quickly over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not expanded equally, leaving women behind, according to the GSMA. The group collects and publishes data on the mobile gender gap in LMICs as part of its effort to understand and address the barriers women experience in mobile phone ownership and use.
These numbers serve as a call to action against complacency, said Claire Sibthrope, head of Digital Inclusion in the Mobile for Development team at GSMA, and leads the connected women and connected society programs focused on accelerating digital inclusion for the underserved in LMICs.
GSMA Mobile for Development, which aims to bring the mobile industry and development community together to reach underserved populations, has asked companies to make commitments to improve digital or financial inclusion for women as part of its Connected Women Commitment Initiative.
“Since 2016, 40 mobile operators have made formal commitments to reduce the gender gap in their mobile internet and mobile money customer base,” Sibthrope wrote in her blog post. “So far, they have collectively reached over 55 million additional women with mobile internet and mobile money services.”
The Connected Women Commitment Initiative, which was launched in 2015, presents a shift for the GSMA Mobile for Development, from working primarily with companies’ corporate social responsibility teams to making the business case for them to close the gender gap.
Sibthrope said she is a believer in the importance of asking companies to make targets.
“Making targets, and reporting against them” is essential for “informed, targeted action,” she said.
Sibthrope said companies can help close the gender gap whether or not their initiatives focus on women, so long as they target some of the barriers that women face disproportionately. That includes handset affordability, literacy and digital skills, a lack of relevant content and services, safety and security, and issues of access.
One example is a campaign launched by Safaricom, the leading telecommunications services provider in Kenya, together with Google. In 2019, Maisha Ni Digital, which means “life is digital,” introduced an affordable 4G handset, which operated on Android Go, combined with other services such as customer support and simplified internet activation.
While the Safaricom and Google campaign did not focus on women, it increased women’s adoption and use of mobile internet by addressing some of the key challenges women face: lack of knowledge, digital skills, and relevant content.
GSMA Mobile for Development, whose work on the mobile gender gap is supported by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, gathers case studies such as these in Reaching 50 Million with Mobile: A Practical Guide.
While mobile network operators, or MNOs, have stepped up in taking action to close the gender gap, other sectors, including governments, need to do the same, Sibthorpe said.
“These problems are not things MNOs on their own can solve,” she said. Sibthrope highlighted, for example, how access to credit and other creative financing solutions will be needed to help with the worsening problem of handset affordability.
MNOs continue to face challenges in closing the gender gap. For example, many operators don’t know the gender breakdowns of their customer bases. Or they find that men will register on behalf of women, making it hard to determine mobile phone ownership, Sibthrope said.
MNOs need to understand what the gender gap is in order to make targets, work toward those targets, and be evaluated against those targets, she added.