The GSMA, which represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, a charity that supports women entrepreneurs and Vital Wave Consulting recently published ‘Women and Mobile: A Global Opportunity’.  The report, attempts to understand the nature of women mobile subscribers in low and middle-income countries and highlights the barriers facing women’s adoption of mobile technologies. It also shows that, by extending the benefits of mobile phone ownership to more women, a host of social and economic goals can be advanced.

Key findings show that:

• There are 300 million fewer female subscribers than male subscribers worldwide
• A woman is 21% less likely to own a phone than a man in low and middle-income countries - 23% in Africa, 24% in the Middle East, and 37% in South Asia
• Women in rural areas and lower income brackets stand to benefit the most from closing the gender gap
• 93% of  women report feeling safer because of their mobile phone
• 85% of women report feeling more independent because of their mobile phone
• 41% of women report having increased income and professional opportunities once they own a phone 

Mobilink is the only Pakistani operator to be recognized in this report for its groundbreaking ‘SMS for Literacy’ project aimed at improving female literacy. In collaboration with UNESCO and a local implementing NGO, this four month pilot project was targeted at female learners from rural area of southern Punjab. In total 250 female learners aged 15-24 who had recently completed a basic literacy course participated in the project. Each learner was given a low cost mobile phone and sent daily educational messages in Urdu. The results of this pilot confirmed its efficacy with marked improvements in learners’ literacy skills. In 2010, this project is being scaled up to cover another 1000 female learners.

Bilal Munir Sheikh, Vice President Marketing has also been quoted in the report:

“In less than a decade mobile phones in Pakistan have gone from being a toy for the rich to a tool for the successful.”

This is out of only a handful of citations (some others include Naquib Sawiris, Cherie Blair, Rob Conway and Queen Rania of Jordan) included in the publication.

Click here to View Report