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The mobile gender gap in Asia: A region of rapid but unequal growth

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The GSMA’s Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019 highlighted that there is a persistent mobile gender gap in low- and middle-income countries, where women are 10% less likely than men to own a mobile and 23% less likely to use mobile internet. The scale of the mobile gender gap ...

It doesn’t need to be complicated – When simple tariff plans and affordable pricing for women works

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Within three months of launching Offre Femme in August 2018, Orange Money Côte d’Ivoire had grown their base of female users of the service by a remarkable 84%. Women’s average revenue or spend also grew by 20%. What did Orange Money get so right to have such an impact?

Realising the full benefit of mobile for women in Africa

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The GSMA’s Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019 highlighted that there is a persistent mobile gender gap in low- and middle-income countries, where women are 10% less likely than men to own a mobile and 23% less likely to use mobile internet. The mobile gender gap varies by region ...

Accelerating digital inclusion for women in Kenya

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“There is little value in selling a phone that does not have access to the internet because real transformation of women’s lives comes from having access to and using the internet.” – Charles Kare Wanjohi, Director of the Consumer Business Unit at Safaricom Women in ...

Harnessing the power of agents to drive female inclusion

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How much do mobile operators need to adapt? The differing needs of women, in low-and middle-income economies, in accessing digital financial services are well documented. A key question is, how can mobile operators adapt existing distribution networks to accommodate women’s ...

The era of pink mobile phones is over: How Dialog Sri Lanka is making mobile internet relevant for women

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Mobile services and applications are sometimes criticised for focusing on men’s priorities and paying too little attention to women’s needs; for example, safe access to public internet facilities, private access to information on reproductive health, and protection from ...

“Accessibility”: How mobile operators can improve the accessibility of their services for women to help close the mobile gender gap

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This is one of a series of blogs that deep dives into our framework to help mobile operators close the gender gap in their customer base. This blog focuses on one of the five themes that we believe mobile operators should focus on to address the most common barriers ...

Do Mobile Connections Improve Women’s Lives?

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As International Women’s Day approaches this Friday, a new research study by GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, and Gallup, reveals that bridging the mobile and internet gender gap may help boost women’s wellbeing across the developing world. ...

The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019

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As we move to the next generation of mobile technology, we must not forget the millions of women who still lack basic connectivity. Last week the mobile industry convened in Barcelona for MWC 2019, showcasing the newest innovations in mobile technology and intelligent ...

Key Takeaways from GSMA Connected Women Asia Event 2018

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‘Partnering for Impact’ mobile operators look to the future and to the importance of cross-industry collaboration as the way forward Women in South Asia are 58% less likely than men to use mobile internet. This represents the highest gender gap of anywhere in the world. ...

Financial Inclusion Week 2018 Twitter Chat: The power of mobile money to bridge the gender gap

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On October 31 2018, different stakeholders including mobile network operators, governments, and development organisations joined GSMA M4D Twitter chat, as part of the activities for this year’s Financial Inclusion Week under the theme Getting Financial Inclusion Right. The ...

“Understand the gap”: How mobile operators can better understand the gender gap in their customer base

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This is the first blog in a series that deep dives into our framework to help mobile operators close the gender gap in their customer base. The first step in this framework, and the focus of this blog, is the need for operators to “Understand the gap”: know where the gender ...

Financial Inclusion Week 2018 Twitter Chat: The power of mobile money in reaching the underserved

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This blog was co-authored by Mariana Lopez and Abbie Phatty-Jobe. We were honoured to join governments, the private sector and development organisations in welcoming Financial Inclusion Week 2018 and exploring this year’s theme of ‘getting inclusion right’. Each year, ...

Connected Women Commitment Partners reach over 12 million new women with mobile internet and mobile money services

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Mobile has the power to transform lives. It can help empower women, making them more connected and safer, and provide access to information and life-enhancing services such as; health information and guidance, financial services and employment opportunities, often for the ...

A framework to understand women’s mobile-related safety concerns in low- and middle-income countries

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Pavati is a 20-year-old student living in New Delhi. She values her smartphone as a tool that increases her safety—when she goes out, she regularly shares her location with her friends via WhatsApp and whenever she feels uncomfortable she calls her friends or her family. ...

Accelerating Digital and Financial Inclusion for Women

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Mobile has the power to transform lives. It can help empower women, making them more connected and safer, and providing access to information, services and life-enhancing opportunities, such as health information and guidance, financial services and employment, often for the ...

Closing the mobile gender gap

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Mobile has the power to transform lives. In my role as Director General of the GSMA, I have seen firsthand how mobile can empower women by making them feel safer and more connected and by giving them access to information and life-enhancing opportunities, often for the first ...

W20 Argentina 2018 calls on the G20 member states to close the digital gender divide

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This week the Women 20 (W20) announced a series of recommendations to promote digital inclusion for women. The W20 is an official engagement group of the G20, advising the G20 on issues around gender equality and the economic empowerment of women, supporting the UN ...

Designing mobile experiences aimed at closing the gender gap

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This post was guest-authored by Smita Aggarwal, she is an Investments Director at the Impact Investing firm Omidyar Network where she supports innovative solutions that promote financial health and inclusion in India. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of ...

Mobile internet in Sri Lanka – The numbers do not add up

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Polite, peace loving and welcoming was my experience of the people of Sri Lanka when I had the opportunity to visit last summer. Sri Lanka is enjoying economic success relative to neighbouring states, reporting an impressive average growth of 6.2% GDP per annum. With a ...