Latest news with #ClaireSibthorpe

Korea Herald
14-05-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Progress closing the mobile internet gender gap stalls in LMICs: GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025
Women are 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet in LMICs, with 885 million remaining unconnected LONDON, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Progress in closing the gender gap in mobile internet use across LMICs stalled in 2024, according to the ' Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025', published today by the GSMA. Findings show that women are still 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet, with around 235 million fewer women online. Overall, 885 million women in LMICs remain without mobile internet access, the majority of whom live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The report examines data on women's mobile access and use across 15 LMICs, the barriers they face to adopting and using mobile internet and how this compares with men. Most women surveyed reported that mobile internet positively impacts their lives by enhancing communication, supporting livelihoods, and enabling access to essential services such as healthcare and finance. While 63% of women in LMICs are using mobile internet, gender gaps remain. This gap narrowed from 25% in 2017, and to 15% in 2020 but stagnated between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, it narrowed again returning to 15% but has seen little change since. The disparity remains highest in South Asia (32%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (29%). Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA comments: "It's disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The data highlights the urgent need for increased focus and investment by all stakeholders working together to close the digital gender divide. The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women. Our Connected Women Commitment Initiative shows that by taking concrete actions to address women's needs and the barriers they face, it is possible to drive change. Since this initiative was launched in 2016, our operator partners have collectively reached over 80 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services." While 61% of women in LMICs own a smartphone, that still leaves 945 million without one. Entry-level smartphones cost women an average of 24% of their monthly income, double the cost for men. Once connected, women use mobile internet less frequently and for fewer services, citing affordability, safety, and poor connectivity.


Cision Canada
14-05-2025
- General
- Cision Canada
Progress closing the mobile internet gender gap stalls in LMICs: GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025
Women are 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet in LMICs, with 885 million remaining unconnected LONDON, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ -- Progress in closing the gender gap in mobile internet use across LMICs stalled in 2024, according to the ' Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025', published today by the GSMA. Findings show that women are still 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet, with around 235 million fewer women online. Overall, 885 million women in LMICs remain without mobile internet access, the majority of whom live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The report examines data on women's mobile access and use across 15 LMICs, the barriers they face to adopting and using mobile internet and how this compares with men. Most women surveyed reported that mobile internet positively impacts their lives by enhancing communication, supporting livelihoods, and enabling access to essential services such as healthcare and finance. While 63% of women in LMICs are using mobile internet, gender gaps remain. This gap narrowed from 25% in 2017, and to 15% in 2020 but stagnated between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, it narrowed again returning to 15% but has seen little change since. The disparity remains highest in South Asia (32%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (29%). Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA comments: "It's disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The data highlights the urgent need for increased focus and investment by all stakeholders working together to close the digital gender divide. The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women. Our Connected Women Commitment Initiative shows that by taking concrete actions to address women's needs and the barriers they face, it is possible to drive change. Since this initiative was launched in 2016, our operator partners have collectively reached over 80 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services." While 61% of women in LMICs own a smartphone, that still leaves 945 million without one. Entry-level smartphones cost women an average of 24% of their monthly income, double the cost for men. Once connected, women use mobile internet less frequently and for fewer services, citing affordability, safety, and poor connectivity.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Mobile internet gender gap narrows in sub-Saharan Africa
The gender gap in mobile internet use narrowed in sub-Saharan Africa for the second year in a row, a new report found, though it remains the region with the highest proportion of women not yet adopting the technology. Sub-Saharan Africa showed 'promising progress in closing mobile gender gaps,' the telecoms industry body GSMA wrote in the report seen by Semafor, with the gulf between men and women using mobile internet dropping from 36% in 2022 to 29% in 2024. Yet around 205 million women are still unconnected to mobile internet services, nearly two-thirds of the adult female population, the report to be published on Wednesday noted. Globally, progress in bridging the mobile gender gap in low- and middle-income countries has stalled. The barriers 'disproportionately affect women because of structural inequalities around income and education,' Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at GSMA, told Semafor, with 'social norms' also playing a role in driving the gender gap. The lack of a smartphone and internet connectivity lowers women's access to education and employment, according to development experts, which is why improving women's digital connectivity is listed by the UN as a key indicator for achieving gender equality. Researchers at Oxford University have found that women who own mobile phones and use the internet are more empowered to make decisions over their health, while others have shown how phones can help alleviate poverty and boost women's economic independence. In sub-Saharan Africa, affordability — particularly of handsets but also data costs — came up as the top barrier for men and women already aware of mobile internet, GSMA found. That was in contrast to South Asia where literacy and digital skills are the biggest obstacles. Aside from the well-documented benefits of digital access for women, their families, and their communities, there is also a huge commercial and GDP opportunity, Sibthorpe said. The GSMA estimates that closing the gender gap in mobile ownership and use between 2023 and 2030 in low- and middle-income countries would add $1.3 trillion in additional GDP. 'Women are half the population, so this is critical for not just economies and governments, but also for businesses, to reduce this inequality in their customer base,' said Sibthorpe. GSMA data from Pakistan — where the gender gap narrowed more than any other country surveyed in 2024 — offers an insight into the importance of tackling social norms to improve digital inclusion. It found that 'family disapproval' was the second most-reported top barrier to mobile internet use for female respondents in the South Asian country, a factor that did not present a barrier for men. The Digital Gender Gaps dashboard, a data visualization project by Oxford University researchers, estimates internet use and mobile ownership by gender. A study by two economists explores why the mobile phone gender gap matters and what we can do about it.