GSMA Capacity Building Course
- 1. Women and Mobile: Bridging the Gender Gap GSMA Capacity Building WAM February 2018 Prepared by: Vusani Ramadzhia
- 2. Bridging the Digital Gender Gap “The world is becoming increasingly connected and we cannot afford to leave anyone behind. Unfortunately, one big group is still missing out on the benefits delivered by connectivity: women” (Broadband Commission, 2017). In the low and middle-income countries Women are 10% less likely than men to own a mobile phone (184 million fewer women own a mobile than men) It was also found that in low and middle-income countries over 1.2 billion women do not use mobile internet (Women are 26% less likely than men to use mobile internet) GSMA Connected Women, 2018).
- 3. Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5
- 4. Sustainable Development Goals: SDGs Cont…
- 5. Barriers preventing women from using and owning mobile phone Cost Network Quality and Coverage Safety and Harassment Operator/Agent Trust Technical Literacy and Confidence
- 6. Barriers preventing women from using and owning mobile phone Social Norms and disparities in income and education – Women status in some societies tend to play a role in accessing education and income Women are not being given same opportunities as men in terms of education and employment opportunities (GSMA, 2018) Lack of Gender disaggregated data focus on women-Sex disaggregation, in particular, can play an important role in providing information about the disparities between women and men. However, data from open social media channels such as Twitter may not indicate a person’s sex. (Data2X, 2017) Sex-disaggregated data on Internet access and use are currently limited despite such data being critical to understanding and measuring the digital gender gap and informing policy and business choices which can address it.(Broadband Commission, 2017)
- 7. Who is addressing the Gender digital divide? UN WomenITU GSMA Melinda & Bill Gate Foundation UNESCOWEF
- 8. Who is addressing the gender digital Divide? GSMA is championing the digital divide through its public-private partnership GSMA Connected Women. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has an initiative which highlights the need to promote technology career opportunities for girls and women in the world’s fastest growing sector. UN Women is dedicated to empower women and girls in technology with a vision of harnessing the power of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to accelerate global progress to bridge the gender digital divide (UN Women, September 20, 2016). Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation its primary focus is to empower girls and women to acquire skills in the ICT sector and other related topical issues such fighting poverty and improving health.
- 9. Who is addressing the gender digital divide? Cont… UNESCO undertakes initiatives by publishing reports in order to understand the extent to which mobile phone technology enhances or develops literacy in ways that empower women and girls. (UNESCO Mobile Phones & Literacy: Empowerment in Women’s Hands, 2015). World Economic Forum (WEF) “The Forum’s work in the System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Education, Gender and Work provides a platform for leaders from all stakeholder groups to collaborate, devise solutions and share best practices to close gender gaps”. (WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2017, p7)
- 10. Policy and Regulation in bridging digital gender divide UN Gender Mainstreaming is implemented by UN Women to address gender gap. Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services and The Department of Trade & Industry have B-BEE ICT Sector Charter that empower women to participate in the ICT industry. Electronic Communications Act, 2005 which governs ICASA also make a provision to empower women to participate in the ICT Sector.
- 11. Action Plans to address digital gender divide Education- there is a great need to ensure that girls are enrolled into secondary school to further their education. Most of the drop out in Africa is due to lack of provision of sanitary towels for girls. Therefore miss an opportunity to participate in school activities and access to ICT services due to illiteracy. Employment- there is a shortage of female representation in the senior management and executive management in the ICT Sector. For instance CEOs for Mobile operator in South Africa are all male. This goes against resolution (4) taken by the international community in “Promoting women in the technology sector, including into positions of decision making” (ITU, 2015). Ensure access ICT services and safety for of women and girls while online- One of the serious threats that hinders women to access mobile services is harassment and lack of safety measure to protect women and girls whilst conduct ICT services activities. There is a great need to provide assurance of safety.
- 12. Plan of Action to address digital gender divide Cont… Entrepreneurship – Women and girls need to be mentored and become self employed and compete for same opportunities with men. In the OECD countries it was found that “Self-employed women frequently earn 30 to 40% less than their male counterparts”. (OECD, 2012) Provision of Internet services- Policy makers and mobile operator must ensure broadband services and network coverage in the rural areas with the primary aim of empowering women and girls. This encourage higher uptake of participation of women and girls in ICT sector. (No Cellings: The full Participation Report, 2015) Economic opportunity- It is imperative for policy makers and their respective government to afford women and girls to participate in the economic growth of their countries by opening the markets and level the playing field.
- 14. Conclusion Access to mobile by women and girls remains the biggest challenge across the globe, especially in low income countries and rural areas. There is a lack of willpower on the part f government to formulate policies and strategies that will empower women and girls to access ICT services in order to bridge the digital gender divide. Private sector and Public –Partnership has made strides in attempting to bridge the gender gap by initiating programmes such as Connected Women & Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation for foster multistakholder partnership to uplift women and girls. Of particular importance is to encourage policy makers and private sector to engage in issues that will bridge the digital gender gap that is affecting women and girls and therefor hindering full participation and access to ICT services.
- 15. References Working Group on the Digital Gender Divide Recommendations for action: Bridging the gender gap in Internet and broadband access and use, 2017 retrieved from http://broadbandcommission.org/Documents/publications/WorkingGroupDigitalGe nderDivide-report2017.pdf GSMA Connected Women The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018 retrieved from https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/connected- women/the-mobile-gender-gap-report-2018 Big Data and the well-being of Women and Girls, 2017 retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/blog/big-data-filling-gender-data-gaps-and-pushing-us-closer- gender-equality UN Gender Mainstreaming: An Overview retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/e65237.pdf
- 16. References Cont… B-BBEE ICT Sector Code Government Gazette No. 40407, 7 November 2016 retrieved from http://www.ictsectorcouncil.org.za/sector-code/ ITU and UN Women announce ‘EQUALS’: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age. UN, 20 September, 2016 retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2016/9/press-release-itu-and-un-women- announce-global-partnership-for-gender-equality-in-the-digital-age No ceillings: Full Participation Report, 2017 retrieved from http://www.noceilings.org/report/report.pdf UNESCO Mobile Phones & Literacy Empowerment in Women’s Hands, 2015 retrived from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002343/234325E.pdf World Economic Forum The Global Gender Gap Report, 2017 retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf ITU Action Plan of Plan to close the digital gender gap retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/action/gender-equality/Documents/ActionPlan.pdf OECD Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, 2012 retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/gender/Executive%20Summary.pdf