The GSMA mWomen Programme announced the launch of their Policy Recommendations paper to Address the Mobile Phone Gender Gap. Following on from the barriers identified in their report they realized that governments and policy makers have a critical role to play in empowering women through mobile technology and are a pivotal part of the ecosystem in achieving the goal of reducing the mobile phone gender gap in developing countries. Women’s empowerment is crucial for a country’s economic growth and development; mobile technology can help to achieve these goals in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

Summary of Recommendations:

1. Reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of mobile

   • Remedy the discriminatory tax treatment of telecoms goods and services to reduce the total cost of ownership of mobile.

2. Remove cultural barriers to mobile phone ownership and access to ICTs by women

   • Systematise the collection of data on the use of ICTs and mobiles by women.

   • Embed the issue of gender into the ICT agenda.

   • Embed the issue of women’s access to and uptake of ICTs into existing gender programmes.

   • Designate well-respected individuals as champions of mobile phone ownership amongst women.

   • Introduce piecemeal practical measures that will facilitate the use and profitable exploitation of ICTs by women.

3. Address limited technical literacy amongst women at the base of the pyramid

   • Collaborate with and incentivise local providers of culturally sensitive training in use of ICTs for women.

4. Encourage the development of value-added mobile services that benefit women in particular

   • Launch mGovernment services which will be attractive to women, particularly in rural areas.

   • Allocate Universal Service Funds to fund the development of value-added mobile services.

(Source: mWomen)