02 July 2024

Over 1.5 billion women in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) across the world are now using mobile internet as more women adopt connectivity faster than men, a GSMA Mobile report showed.

In the latest Mobile Gender Gap Report, the GSMA revealed that the gender gap in mobile adoption narrowed among LMICs, from 19% in 2022 to 15% in 2023 — bringing the gap back to its pre-pandemic level.

Notable changes in India and Indonesia drove this year’s shift where women’s adoption rate exceeded men’s. While in sub-Saharan Africa, the gender gap narrowed slightly for the first time in five years.

India, one of the world’s largest mobile markets, saw a massive rise of 37% among women as adoption among men remains stable, cutting the gap from 40% to 30%. In Indonesia, the rate of adoption from women exceeded men with the gap now at 8% from 15%. The report also showed that there are now 1.4 billion (60%) women who own a smartphone device across LMICs.

In 2023, the gender gap in smartphone ownership narrowed slightly from 15% to 13%, driven primarily by South Asia which cut the gap from 41% to 34%.
“Once someone owns a smartphone, they are considerably more likely to adopt mobile internet and use it regularly which can unlock myriad socio-economic benefits. However, once women are online, they often face barriers to using mobile internet as frequently or for the same range of use cases as men,” said the report.

According to GSMA, Addressing the mobile gender gap holds the potential to deliver significant social and commercial benefits for individuals, societies, and economies. Connectivity is also critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including those related to health, education, and financial inclusion. It estimates that closing the gender gap in mobile ownership and usage across LMICs could deliver an additional $230b in revenue to the mobile industry over an eight-year period.

“Gender gaps stem from complex social, economic, and cultural factors, that require collective action from a broad set of organisations. We are calling on stakeholders including governments, MNOs and development organisations to work together to ensure digital and financial inclusion for women everywhere,” said Claire Sibthorpe, GSMA head of digital inclusion.