Women face a significant digital gender gap, being 10-26% less likely than men to own a mobile phone or use mobile internet. This amounts to 184 million fewer women owning mobile phones and over 1.2 billion women not using mobile internet in low and middle-income countries. Barriers preventing women from accessing mobile include cost, network issues, safety concerns, lack of trust in operators/agents, and lower digital literacy. Several international organizations are working to address this divide through initiatives focused on education, employment, safety regulations, and encouraging policies that promote inclusion.

1. WOMEN AND MOBILE: BRIDGING THE GENDER GAP
GSMA CAPACITY BUILDING WAM FEBRUARY 2018

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. GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE
• Globally, over 1.7 billion women in low and middle income countries do not own mobile
phones.
• On average, women are 14% less likely to own a mobile phone than men, which translates
into 200 million fewer women than men owning mobile phones.
• Between 2013 and 2016, the ITU measured an increase in the gender gap: the difference
between the internet user penetration rates for males and females had increased to 16.8%
in developing countries and to 30.9% in least developing countries. The largest access gaps
were observed in South Asia and sub-Sarahari Africa.

4. BARRIERS PREVENTING WOMEN FROM USING
AND OWNING MOBILE PHONE
• Cost
• Network quality and coverage
• Safety and harassment
• Operator/agent trust
• Technical literacy and confidence

5. WHO IS ADDRESSING THE GENDER DIGITAL
DIVIDE?
• ITU
• UN Women
• GSMA
• WEF
• UNESCO

6. 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.

7. 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 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.
• men in the technology sector, including into positions of decision making” (ITU, 2015).

8. CONCLUSION
• Women are less likely to complete their studies, in other words their high schools
and tertiary, due to many reasons such as getting pregnant.
• Access to mobile by women and girls remains the biggest challenge across the
globe, especially in low income countries and rural areas.
• 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.

9. REFERENCES
• 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
• ITU Action Plan of Plan to close the digital gender gap retrieved from
https://www.itu.int/en/action/gender-equality/Documents/ActionPlan.pdf