Mobile technology has the unprecedented potential to transform the lives of resource-poor women around the world. As shown in the seminal Women and Mobile: a Global Opportunity report released in 2010 by the GSMA mWomen programme, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, and Vital Wave, Inc. women who have access to or ownership of a mobile phone feel more connected, safer and more independent, and as a consequence have a greater sense of empowerment. But in four years the mobile landscape has changed dramatically with mobile networks in developing countries expanding and increasingly reliable. This dynamic creates an unprecedented opportunity for Internet connectivity through mobile broadband to reach the most underserved communities and to significantly contribute to women’s empowerment.
In this spirit, Qualcomm Wireless ReachTM and Vital Wave, Inc. in collaboration with the GSMA mWomen programme, released a report today entitled Transforming Women’s Livelihoods Through Mobile Broadband. The report explores the various forms of value that mobile broadband provides to working women in the developing world and the barriers that feature phone owners face when upgrading to smartphone use. Removing or reducing those barriers will unlock a set of economic and social opportunities for working women and offers a significant opportunity for industry and for meeting wider socio-economic development goals.
The study is based on more than 1,000 structured interviews with working women across five countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria. Working women are segmented into five distinct, mutually exclusive groups, and the attitudes, preferences, purchasing and mobile phone use habits are characterized for each segment. The report offers actionable recommendations to operators, governments and NGOs on how to expand Internet use to show the value of broadband connectivity, address cash-flow implications of handset purchase for working women in developing countries, and tailor messages and offerings to specific user segments of working women.