Latest news with #MobileGenderGapReport2025
Forbes
01-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Not Just Online, In Control: Why Women's Digital Agency Matters
By Lauren Hendricks, President & CEO, Trickle Up In the race to close the digital divide, the conversation has long been centered around access: who has a device, and who can get online? But as we step deeper into the digital age, it's time we asked a more urgent and transformative question: who controls their digital experience? An economic inclusion coach teaches a woman in rural India how to use a smartphone for her business. While digital inclusion refers to access (using a device, using the internet, and connecting to a network), digital agency takes it one step further. Digital agency is about control, choice, and empowerment: the ability to decide how, when, and why digital tools are used. But for millions of women around the world, digital agency remains elusive. The Digital Divide Runs Deep Globally, 2.6 billion people remain offline, with women disproportionately affected. Women are 23% less likely than men to use the internet, and in regions like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the gap is even wider—32% and 29%, respectively, according to GSMA's Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025. This isn't just a question of technology; it's a question of power. Pushpanjali Baccha teaches her neighbor how to use an app to help her business thrive. In low- and middle-income countries, 63% of women use mobile internet compared to 74% of men, leaving 235 million fewer women connected than men. Smartphone ownership mirrors this disparity: 61% of women own smartphones versus 71% of men, a gap that translates to 230 million women without smartphones. These statistics represent more than numbers; they reflect lost opportunities. Why Digital Access Alone Isn't Enough Even when women own devices, they may lack true autonomy. Many access the internet only on devices controlled by someone else: a husband, a father, or a shopkeeper. In Pakistan, 35% of female mobile internet users don't possess their own internet-enabled phones, compared to just 6% of men. This dependence curtails privacy, limits use, and reinforces existing gender norms. Two participants of an economic inclusion program use digital apps to build their businesses. In my work with women in Uganda, I realized that agency for them also meant being able to use digital tools for purposes they chose. I saw too many digital training programs that taught women to perform specific tasks (like sending mobile payments) that served someone else's goals. And I kept asking myself: are we equipping them to do what they want? To seek out new markets? To read up on their rights? Again and again, I watched women use their phones to seek information on sexual and reproductive health—resources that were rarely available offline or accessed safely and privately. Real digital agency means giving women the ability to explore what matters to them. The women in these communities are isolated, often staying within the bounds of their villages and disconnected from global conversations. With such limited access to outside information, a phone and internet access means access to an entirely new world. The Cost of Exclusion When women are excluded from digital spaces, the ripple effects are enormous. They miss out on critical information to improve their health, education, and livelihoods. They're cut off from community groups, online markets, and learning opportunities. And perhaps most damaging, they are denied the tools to shape their own future. Business owners in rural India use Google Pay to receive payments for goods and services. As research by Philip Roessler and others has shown, access to mobile phones can reduce poverty and increase women's bargaining power within households, shifting long-entrenched gender dynamics. But that's only if women truly control the tool. From Digital Inclusion to Digital Agency To close the digital gender divide, we must stop thinking of access as the finish line, and instead strive for agency. We must invest not just in hardware and data packages, but in skills, confidence, and social change. That means challenging the norms that view a girl with a phone as promiscuous, or punishing a woman for using a device her husband doesn't approve of. It is essential to ensure privacy, safety, and access to information that can change lives. Digital agency is the key to unlocking the full potential of the world's women. It's how we transform connectivity into an active catalyst for equality, giving every woman the power to decide her digital path and the freedom to walk it.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
WTD 2025: Gender equality - A prerequisite for digital transformation
India's quest for transforming into Viksit Bharat by 2047 is predicated on a few flagship policies and programs. Considering the rapid pace of digitalisation across every sphere of human endeavour, one of these is the Digital India – launched in 2015, that envisions ubiquitous digital infrastructure, provision of digital services, and last but not least, digital empowerment of the citizens. As per Kantar and IAMAI, India has almost 900 million Internet users, with women comprising 47% of users. According to GSMA's Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025, 84% of adult males in India have a mobile but only 71% of females have one. In case of smartphones, the skew is even more pronounced – 58% versus 36%. No wonder, females account for almost 60% of all the shared device users in the country, accessing the Internet using devices owned by others. According to Innovating for the Next Half Billion (NHB), there is a widespread fear that smartphones will expose women to 'bad influences' and lead to harassment or even broken marriages. Many women have self-restricted their desire for phones and use of the internet, based on such internalisation. Almost 13% of Indian women who own a smartphone do not use mobile Internet and two-thirds are not even aware of it. UNICEF's report, Bridging the Gender Digital Divide, had similar findings in terms of ownership and usage gaps across genders but also highlighted that for every 100 male youth with digital skills, only 65 female youth possess similar skills. Even globally, 70% of the male population uses the Internet compared to 65% of the female population. Clearly, this glaring digital gender gap severely constrains their agency and privacy while also limits their social, political and economic participation, even as digital technologies do hold enormous potential to bridge the gender gap in access to labour markets. Gender-based online violence is another key challenge and more so with the onset of AI-enabled deepfakes besides the prevalence of revenge porn and cyberstalking. In fact, the cybercrime reporting portal operated by the Ministry of Home Affairs was originally started only for reporting incidents of cybercrime against children and women under the CCPWC (Cybercrime Prevention against Women and Children) Scheme. Gender Equality in Digital Transformation World Telecommunication & Information Society Day (WTISD) is observed every year on May 17 to celebrate the birth of the International Telecommunications Union ( ITU ), the oldest UN agency that was established in 1865, eight decades before the UN itself. As ITU turns 160 and as the world reflects on the progress over the past three decades since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 for advancing women's rights, the WTISD theme 'Gender Equality in Digital Transformation' seems perfectly timed. Recognising the broader and more diverse set of gender identities beyond just the male and female, the usage of the term 'gender' is intentional. For example, several individuals belonging to non-binary gender identities use the digital ecosystem in pursuit of information, associations and relationships. However, they are also frequent targets of gender-based violence. In March 2025, speaking at a ministerial roundtable on 'Digital and Financial Inclusion for Women's Empowerment at the UN Headquarters, the Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi had offered India's willingness to share with the world its experiences of using digital public infrastructure (DPI) to bridge the digital gender divide. The JAM (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) trinity accelerated financial inclusion in India from 17% in 2009 to 80% in 2017, something that would have otherwise taken 47 years. More significantly, 56% of the new bank account holders were women. This is just one example of how gender-intentional policies can help. Gender-Intentional and Time-Bound Policy India needs to have a gender-intentional digital inclusion policy, spanning: Access Gender budgeting by Digital Bharat Nidhi to provide targeted subsidy for devices and services for those meeting certain prescribed socio-economic women-collective led Panchayat-level community ISPs and quasi-private browsing zones within the Common Service the scope of MNREGA to include digital infrastructure. Applications and Services Gender-empowering applications and services with participation of intended users and beneficiaries. Skilling Integrate and impart digital, financial and cyber literacy programs, currently being rolled out in isolation. Safety and Privacy Foster online safety, especially against gender-based holistic privacy , beyond data protection. Monitoring and Review Integrate granular aspects in various surveys to better understand, map and analyse gaps and trends. Public Private Partnership Leverage private enterprises and civil society where appropriate, without stifling them with over-regulation. (DISCLAIMER: Views expressed are the author's personal.)
Korea Herald
14-05-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Progress closing the mobile internet gender gap stalls in LMICs: GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025
Women are 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet in LMICs, with 885 million remaining unconnected LONDON, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Progress in closing the gender gap in mobile internet use across LMICs stalled in 2024, according to the ' Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025', published today by the GSMA. Findings show that women are still 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet, with around 235 million fewer women online. Overall, 885 million women in LMICs remain without mobile internet access, the majority of whom live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The report examines data on women's mobile access and use across 15 LMICs, the barriers they face to adopting and using mobile internet and how this compares with men. Most women surveyed reported that mobile internet positively impacts their lives by enhancing communication, supporting livelihoods, and enabling access to essential services such as healthcare and finance. While 63% of women in LMICs are using mobile internet, gender gaps remain. This gap narrowed from 25% in 2017, and to 15% in 2020 but stagnated between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, it narrowed again returning to 15% but has seen little change since. The disparity remains highest in South Asia (32%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (29%). Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA comments: "It's disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The data highlights the urgent need for increased focus and investment by all stakeholders working together to close the digital gender divide. The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women. Our Connected Women Commitment Initiative shows that by taking concrete actions to address women's needs and the barriers they face, it is possible to drive change. Since this initiative was launched in 2016, our operator partners have collectively reached over 80 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services." While 61% of women in LMICs own a smartphone, that still leaves 945 million without one. Entry-level smartphones cost women an average of 24% of their monthly income, double the cost for men. Once connected, women use mobile internet less frequently and for fewer services, citing affordability, safety, and poor connectivity.
Cision Canada
14-05-2025
- General
- Cision Canada
Progress closing the mobile internet gender gap stalls in LMICs: GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025
Women are 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet in LMICs, with 885 million remaining unconnected LONDON, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ -- Progress in closing the gender gap in mobile internet use across LMICs stalled in 2024, according to the ' Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025', published today by the GSMA. Findings show that women are still 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet, with around 235 million fewer women online. Overall, 885 million women in LMICs remain without mobile internet access, the majority of whom live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The report examines data on women's mobile access and use across 15 LMICs, the barriers they face to adopting and using mobile internet and how this compares with men. Most women surveyed reported that mobile internet positively impacts their lives by enhancing communication, supporting livelihoods, and enabling access to essential services such as healthcare and finance. While 63% of women in LMICs are using mobile internet, gender gaps remain. This gap narrowed from 25% in 2017, and to 15% in 2020 but stagnated between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, it narrowed again returning to 15% but has seen little change since. The disparity remains highest in South Asia (32%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (29%). Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA comments: "It's disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The data highlights the urgent need for increased focus and investment by all stakeholders working together to close the digital gender divide. The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women. Our Connected Women Commitment Initiative shows that by taking concrete actions to address women's needs and the barriers they face, it is possible to drive change. Since this initiative was launched in 2016, our operator partners have collectively reached over 80 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services." While 61% of women in LMICs own a smartphone, that still leaves 945 million without one. Entry-level smartphones cost women an average of 24% of their monthly income, double the cost for men. Once connected, women use mobile internet less frequently and for fewer services, citing affordability, safety, and poor connectivity.
