Women trail in smartphone ownership

There is a significant gender gap in smartphone ownership despite the gadgets driving a higher mobile internet use.

The 2020 Mobile Gender Gap report says women in low and middle-income countries are 20 per cent less likely than men to own one, because of less autonomy and agency in smartphone acquisition.

The report was released this week by GSMA Connected Women programme, which works with mobile operators and their partners to address the barriers to women accessing and using mobile internet and mobile money services.

“Women are much less likely than men to purchase their own smartphone and have less autonomy and agency in smartphone acquisition. This is despite many women’s strong intention to acquire a smartphone,” states the report.

Despite the growing importance of connectivity, there is still a considerable mobile gender gap in 2020, with women being eight per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone.

“While this is a slight reduction from the 10 per cent gender gap in previous years, it is proving a difficult gap to close,” the report says.

DIGITAL SKILLS

It found that handset affordability remains the primary barrier to mobile phone ownership for men and women.

“Among mobile users who are aware of mobile internet, a lack of literacy and digital skills continues to be the main barrier to use, followed by affordability. Safety concerns are also a key barrier to mobile internet access, remaining a critical factor in several countries,” it says.

According to the report, 54 per cent of women in low- and middle-income countries now use mobile internet and the gender gap is narrowing.

“Women are 20 per cent less likely to use mobile internet than men, down from 27 per cent in 2017. Despite this progress, the gender gap in mobile internet use in low- and middle-income countries remains substantial, with over 300 million fewer women than men accessing the internet on a mobile,” it says.

The underlying gender gap in mobile ownership remains largely unchanged with the remaining unconnected proving difficult to reach. Women across low- and middle-income countries are eight per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone, which translates into 165 million fewer women than men owning a mobile.

COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY

The relative importance of the factors preventing access to mobile internet are changing rapidly across low- and middle-income countries. For both men and women, awareness of mobile internet is growing quickly, although it remains unequal, and women and men are increasingly seeing the internet as relevant to their lives.

Among mobile owners, women on average use a smaller range of services in all 15 countries surveyed — a gap that remains even among smartphone owners.

Bringing women’s mobile use in line with men’s represents an important commercial opportunity for the mobile industry to drive growth and extend more of the benefits of mobile ownership to women.

Consumption of video content on mobile is growing remarkably for both men and women, increasing by more than 50 per cent in two years in surveyed countries.

This reflects the growing popularity of applications that facilitate sharing of user-generated video content in low- and middle-income countries, such as YouTube and TikTok.

Both men and women across surveyed markets report that mobile ownership makes them feel safer and provides access to important information that not only assists them in their daily lives, but that they would not have otherwise received.

“Benefits are considerably greater for those who use mobile internet, reinforcing the importance of equalising internet access,” concludes the report.