The sixth annual Mobile Gender Gap Report evaluates mobile ownership and mobile internet usage across low- and middle-income countries.
31 May 2023, London: Over 800 million women will need to adopt mobile internet in order to close the digital gender gap by 2030 across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), according to the latest Mobile Gender Gap Report published by the GSMA today.
The latest figures indicate that the gulf between the numbers of men and women using mobile internet will not be closed without an enhanced effort by a broad range of stakeholders. Progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap remains stalled, with women in LMICs 19% less likely than men to use it, equating to around 310 million fewer women than men.
If the gap remains unchanged, current forecasts suggest that only 360 million more women (less than half of the 800m target) are expected to start using mobile broadband by the end of the decade.
The Mobile Gender Gap Report analyses mobile ownership and mobile internet usage in low- and middle-income countries[1] (LMICs) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The report provides figures that uncover the scale of the mobile gender gap in each region, a review of the barriers to mobile ownership and internet adoption, and recommended actions for stakeholders, including policymakers, regulators, mobile operators and NGOs. It is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) via the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation.
Other key findings from the report include:
While almost two-thirds (61%) of women across LMICs are now using mobile internet, their rate of adoption has slowed for the second year in a row - with only 60 million women adopting mobile internet in 2022, versus 75 million in 2021.
900 million women across LMICs still aren't connected to mobile broadband, of which two-thirds live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Once women own a smartphone, their awareness and use of mobile internet is almost on par with men. Despite this, women are 17% less likely than men to own a smartphone in LMICs, translating into around 250 million fewer women than men.
There are still 440 million women across LMICs who do not own a mobile phone and are difficult to reach.
For mobile users who are already aware of mobile internet, the top-reported barriers to adoption are still affordability (primarily of handsets), literacy and digital skills, and safety and security concerns.
The majority of men and women who use mobile internet believe it has an overall positive impact on their lives and use it every day, with little difference between women and men.
Mobile ownership and mobile internet usage deliver significant benefits to women and their families, the economy and business.
Mobile phones are the primary, and often only, source of internet access in LMICs, particularly in rural communities, so it's alarming to see women's digital inclusion slow for the second year in a row, said Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. Greater collaboration across all stakeholders in the digital community, from governments to operators, NGOs to internet companies, is needed to enable more women to access and use mobile internet and ultimately ensure women are not being left behind in an increasingly digital world.
In 2016, the GSMA launched the GSMA Connected Women Commitment initiative, to support mobile operators reduce the gender gap in the customer base of their mobile internet or mobile money services. Since its inception, over 40 mobile operators across LMICs have made formal commitments to reduce the gender gap, collectively reaching over 65 million additional women, delivering significant socio-economic benefits to underserved women, their communities, and the economy.
Mobile network operators (MNOs) have been able to narrow the mobile gender gap by taking informed, targeted actions to address women's needs and the barriers they face to mobile internet adoption and use. But to fully address the issue, and achieve meaningful progress, will require increased focus and targeted action from all stakeholders, including MNOs, internet companies, policymakers and regulators, and the development community.
To learn more about the mobile gender gap in LMICs, download the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2023.
-ENDS-
[1] The report is based on an analysis of face-to-face surveys conducted by the GSMA in Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Guatemala and Mexico
Notes to Editors
The GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative has so far collectively reached over 65 million additional women with mobile internet and mobile money services. Efforts to date include offering more affordable internet-enabled handsets to address women's price sensitivity; providing digital skills training targeting women, including rural women; recruiting female agents and merchants; developing and marketing use cases that appeal to women; creating mobile financial products for traditional women's savings groups; re-designing apps to make them simpler to use for those less digitally literate; improving the data top-up process to be safer and more appealing to women; and providing free emergency minutes and alerts to help women feel safer when using their mobile phones, among a wide range of other efforts that seek to address the barriers women face.
About GSMA
The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent i
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
03/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar acquisition for Tegna and set deadlines f...
03/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
03/12/2025
NEW YORK Great American Media said it plans to launch Pure Flix Familia, a dedicated Spanish-language platform, in 2026....
03/12/2025
SOUTHPORT, Conn. Main Street Sports Group has announced that the FanDuel Sports Network app is now available directly on Vizio and on smart TVs with Vizio OS. T...
03/12/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced that Telia, the second-largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's c...
03/12/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. Sinclair said Jay Zollar, vice president and general manager of WLUK-WCWF here, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years running the stations. Station...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Today, Mistral AI announced the Mistral 3 family of open-source multilingual, multimodal models, optimized across NVIDIA supercomputing and edge platforms.
M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
The sixth annual Mobile Gender Gap Report evaluates mobile ownership and mobile internet usage across low- and middle-income countries.
