As you scan a busy street or travel on a train, the ubiquitous mobile is everywhere. And yet, one of India's biggest success stories - the use of mobile technology - has reached women only partially. A recent study shows that 12% fewer women own mobiles as compared to men. The gender gap is even higher in internet use with women comprising just 17% of total internet users. Interestingly, 20% women borrow mobiles through family and friends for use.
A study by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on women's entrepreneurship and use of information technology says that female employment in the IT sector - estimated to be about 35% in 2008 - is much higher than in other sectors, yet they are not consumers of the product. A 2008 study projected that the female workforce in the industry would grow to 45% after 2010-2011.
The survey, 'Connectivity, how mobile phones, computers and the internet can catalyze women's entrepreneurship' says that 28% women own cellphones compared to 40% men. Another 20% of women were found to be borrowers of cellphones through family and friends. Incidentally, 63% of women cellphone users were urban residents.
The trend is the same with internet use. The 2007 Internet in India (I-Cube) report - which identified 32 million active internet users in 30 cities - suggested that the gender gap in internet use was much greater.
Recent national level data indicates that women's workforce participation, which includes self-employed work, is around 26% in rural areas and only 14% in urban areas. This rate declined by 1.7% between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. This has resulted in even less entrepreneurial engagement.
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