Bidiversity

Bidiversity and our founders, Aquitude, were invited to the launch of the  2010 study “Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity“. Not surprisingly, if men and women had similar cellphone ownership rates in low and middle income countries, there would be more  cellphones in use.

What is surprising is the figure: women represent a market of 300 million more cellphones: leading to a $13Billion opportunity for the mobile phone industry.

The study, by the Cherie Blair Foundation, the GSMA Development Fund and Vital Wave Consulting, found that the poorer the region and the less empowered women are, the greater the gender disparity in cellphone ownership. The gap was smallest in Eastern Europe/Central Asia, at 16%; it was greatest in South Asia, at 37%. By comparison, in Western Europe more women than men have cellphones.

In her introduction, Cherie Blair writes,

“What shines out of this study is that Women and Mobile represent an untapped market and great development potential that we need to embrace.”

The study cites links between increased cellphone use and national income, job creation and profits. The highlights of the report are:

• A woman is one-fifth less likely than a man to own a mobile phone in a middle-income or poor country, a gender gap that reduces women’s safety and income possibilities as well as national wealth and companies’ revenues.

• For the phone industry, equal cellphone usage by gender in middle-income and poor countries would increase sales by $13 billion. Five years out, the annual gain would be $29 billion. Two-thirds of market growth is expected to be women in the next five years.

• Just like in developed countries, women in less wealthy countries report that a cellphone improves their sense of security. In addition 85% of women in those countries say a cellphone increases their independence.

• But the greatest opportunity is in potential productivity. 55% of female business owners in the countries say a cellphone brought them more income, vs 28% of all women with a phone, and 4 of 10 women with a phone say it increased their professional or economic opportunities.

• Ways in which women raised income through phones include getting pricing information, executing money transfers and making employment contacts.

To reduce the gap, the report urges companies to:

• market directly to women
• position phones as income-producing tools
• find ways to reduce costs for women; and
• foster incentives for developing mobile services that benefit women.

Christina Ioannidis, CEO of Aquitude comments :

“Having spent years in the telephony market, this report comes as no surprise. I am delighted that the industry has woken to the fact that economic empowerment of women through technology is critical not only for the benefit of society, but also because of the intrinsic commercial benefits to the industry.”

Download the report here