Women and Mobile: Bridging the Gender Gap Feb 2018

1. Women and Mobile:
Bridging the Gender Gap
GSMA Capacity Building WAM February 2018
Prepared by: Vusani Ramadzhia

2. Bridging the Digital Gender Gap
 “The world is becoming increasingly connected and we cannot afford to leave
anyone behind. Unfortunately, one big group is still missing out on the
benefits delivered by connectivity: women” (Broadband Commission, 2017).
 In the low and middle-income countries Women are 10% less likely than men
to own a mobile phone (184 million fewer women own a mobile than men)
 It was also found that in low and middle-income countries over 1.2 billion
women do not use mobile internet (Women are 26% less likely than men to
use mobile internet) GSMA Connected Women, 2018).

3. Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5

4. Sustainable Development Goals: SDGs
Cont…

5. Barriers preventing women from using
and owning mobile phone
Cost
Network
Quality and
Coverage
Safety and
Harassment
Operator/Agent
Trust
Technical
Literacy and
Confidence

6. Barriers preventing women from using
and owning mobile phone
 Social Norms and disparities in income and education – Women status in some
societies tend to play a role in accessing education and income
 Women are not being given same opportunities as men in terms of education
and employment opportunities (GSMA, 2018)
 Lack of Gender disaggregated data focus on women-Sex disaggregation, in
particular, can play an important role in providing information about the
disparities between women and men. However, data from open social media
channels such as Twitter may not indicate a person’s sex. (Data2X, 2017)
 Sex-disaggregated data on Internet access and use are currently limited
despite such data being critical to understanding and measuring the digital
gender gap and informing policy and business choices which can address
it.(Broadband Commission, 2017)

7. Who is addressing the Gender digital
divide?
UN
WomenITU
GSMA
Melinda &
Bill Gate
Foundation
UNESCOWEF

8. Who is addressing the gender digital
Divide?
 GSMA is championing the digital divide through its public-private partnership
GSMA Connected Women.
 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has an initiative which
highlights the need to promote technology career opportunities for girls and
women in the world’s fastest growing sector.
 UN Women is dedicated to empower women and girls in technology with a
vision of harnessing the power of modern information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to accelerate global progress to bridge the gender digital
divide (UN Women, September 20, 2016).
 Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation its primary focus is to empower girls and
women to acquire skills in the ICT sector and other related topical issues such
fighting poverty and improving health.

9. Who is addressing the gender digital
divide? Cont…
 UNESCO undertakes initiatives by publishing reports in order to understand
the extent to which mobile phone technology enhances or develops literacy in
ways that empower women and girls. (UNESCO Mobile Phones & Literacy:
Empowerment in Women’s Hands, 2015).
 World Economic Forum (WEF) “The Forum’s work in the System Initiative on
Shaping the Future of Education, Gender and Work provides a platform for
leaders from all stakeholder groups to collaborate, devise solutions and share
best practices to close gender gaps”. (WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2017,
p7)

10. Policy and Regulation in bridging digital
gender divide
UN Gender Mainstreaming is implemented by UN
Women to address gender gap.
Department of Telecommunications and Postal
Services and The Department of Trade & Industry
have B-BEE ICT Sector Charter that empower women
to participate in the ICT industry.
Electronic Communications Act, 2005 which governs
ICASA also make a provision to empower women to
participate in the ICT Sector.

11. Action Plans to address digital gender
divide
 Education- there is a great need to ensure that girls are enrolled into secondary
school to further their education. Most of the drop out in Africa is due to lack of
provision of sanitary towels for girls. Therefore miss an opportunity to participate
in school activities and access to ICT services due to illiteracy.
 Employment- there is a shortage of female representation in the senior
management and executive management in the ICT Sector. For instance CEOs for
Mobile operator in South Africa are all male.
 This goes against resolution (4) taken by the international community in
“Promoting women in the technology sector, including into positions of decision
making” (ITU, 2015).
 Ensure access ICT services and safety for of women and girls while online- One of
the serious threats that hinders women to access mobile services is harassment
and lack of safety measure to protect women and girls whilst conduct ICT services
activities. There is a great need to provide assurance of safety.

12. Plan of Action to address digital gender
divide Cont…
 Entrepreneurship – Women and girls need to be mentored and become self
employed and compete for same opportunities with men. In the OECD
countries it was found that “Self-employed women frequently earn 30 to 40%
less than their male counterparts”. (OECD, 2012)
 Provision of Internet services- Policy makers and mobile operator must ensure
broadband services and network coverage in the rural areas with the primary
aim of empowering women and girls. This encourage higher uptake of
participation of women and girls in ICT sector. (No Cellings: The full
Participation Report, 2015)
 Economic opportunity- It is imperative for policy makers and their respective
government to afford women and girls to participate in the economic growth
of their countries by opening the markets and level the playing field.

14. Conclusion
 Access to mobile by women and girls remains the biggest challenge across the
globe, especially in low income countries and rural areas.
 There is a lack of willpower on the part f government to formulate policies
and strategies that will empower women and girls to access ICT services in
order to bridge the digital gender divide.
 Private sector and Public –Partnership has made strides in attempting to
bridge the gender gap by initiating programmes such as Connected Women &
Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation for foster multistakholder partnership to
uplift women and girls.
 Of particular importance is to encourage policy makers and private sector to
engage in issues that will bridge the digital gender gap that is affecting
women and girls and therefor hindering full participation and access to ICT
services.

15. References
 Working Group on the Digital Gender Divide Recommendations for action: Bridging
the gender gap in Internet and broadband access and use, 2017 retrieved from
http://broadbandcommission.org/Documents/publications/WorkingGroupDigitalGe
nderDivide-report2017.pdf
 GSMA Connected Women The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018 retrieved from
https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/connected-
women/the-mobile-gender-gap-report-2018
 Big Data and the well-being of Women and Girls, 2017 retrieved from
https://www.cfr.org/blog/big-data-filling-gender-data-gaps-and-pushing-us-closer-
gender-equality
 UN Gender Mainstreaming: An Overview retrieved from
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/e65237.pdf

16. References Cont…
 B-BBEE ICT Sector Code Government Gazette No. 40407, 7 November 2016 retrieved from
http://www.ictsectorcouncil.org.za/sector-code/
 ITU and UN Women announce ‘EQUALS’: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the
Digital Age. UN, 20 September, 2016 retrieved from
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2016/9/press-release-itu-and-un-women-
announce-global-partnership-for-gender-equality-in-the-digital-age
 No ceillings: Full Participation Report, 2017 retrieved from
http://www.noceilings.org/report/report.pdf
 UNESCO Mobile Phones & Literacy Empowerment in Women’s Hands, 2015 retrived from
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002343/234325E.pdf
 World Economic Forum The Global Gender Gap Report, 2017 retrieved from
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf
 ITU Action Plan of Plan to close the digital gender gap retrieved from
https://www.itu.int/en/action/gender-equality/Documents/ActionPlan.pdf
 OECD Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, 2012 retrieved from
https://www.oecd.org/gender/Executive%20Summary.pdf