To mark International Women’s Day 2012, the GSMA mWomen is delighted to release the research report Striving and Surviving – Exploring the Lives of Women at the Base of the Pyramid. This is a detailed exploration of the data collected during a nine-month study conducted in partnership with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with primary research undertaken by TNS. Striving and Surviving expands the summary report, entitled Portraits: A Glimpse into the Lives of Women at the Base of the Pyramid launched last week at the GSMA mWomen Seminar at Mobile World Congress 2012.

“Our ultimate goal is that this research will lead to the private and public sectors working in partnership with BoP women on the development of mobile services that truly meet their needs,” said Trina DasGupta, GSMA mWomen Programme Director. “We believe any mobile product or service aiming to serve BoP women in a commercially successful manner must meet the actual lived needs of BoP women, as expressed in their own voices.”

“This research highlights the gaps in access to, and use of mobile phone technology. There is significant potential for using it to empower women and we are continuing to work with the GSMA mWomen Program and USAID to reduce the mobile phone gender gap,” said Melissa Stutsel, Director Gender Policy at AusAID.

“Critical to eliminating the mobile phone gender gap is discovering the profitable business models – based in part on this new research – for mobile operators for serving women who live on less than $2 per day,” said Maura O’Neill, Senior Counselor and Chief Innovation Officer for USAID. “Partnering with GSMA and AusAID ensures that the program is deeply responsive to the hopes, dreams, and needs of poor women around the world.”

The GSMA mWomen Programme commissioned multi-country research and primary fieldwork was conducted with more than 2,500 BoP women in Egypt, India, Papua New Guinea and Uganda, with secondary research contributions from other parts of the developing world. To catalyse similar research in markets we weren’t able to reach and to speak to women we weren’t able to speak to, we have made all of the research tools used to conduct the study publicly available – read more here.