Mumbai: Indian women are 28 per cent less likely than their males counterparts to own a mobile phone and 56 per cent are less likely than men to use the Internet on a mobile phone, says report.
Highlighting the gender gap, the report by GSMA finds that among the 18 countries surveyed, women remain 10 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone in low and middle- income countries and 23 per cent of them are less likely than men to use the Internet on their phones.
The survey also notes that globally, across all low and middle-income countries, as much as 80 per cent women own mobiles while in the country it is way below at 59 per cent. In case of men in the country, it is 80 per cent.
However, the survey notes that while only 19 per cent of women here were aware of mobile Internet in 2018, this increased to 42 per cent in 2019.
Over the next five years, the survey expects low and middle-income countries to gain an estimated additional USD 140 billion in mobile industry revenue if operators closed the gender gaps by 2023.
The survey also finds that closing the mobile gender gap can be an important driver of economic growth, as these markets could also add an additional USD 700 billion in GDP growth by 2023.
"We are seeing significantly increased mobile access for women, however, in an increasingly connected world, women are still being left behind. While mobile connectivity is spreading quickly, it is not spreading equally. Unequal access to mobile phones threatens to exacerbate the inequalities women already experience," GSMA director general Mats Granryd said in a statement Wednesday.
