Encouraging more jobs for women in mobile phone retail and telecoms industries across 11 emerging countries could help families and boost revenues for mobile companies, suggests a new study released in Dubai.

Spearheaded by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, the study was conducted in cooperation with 14 mobile operators across the Middle East, Africa and Asia and comes more than a year after a study found that 300 million women globally do not have access to mobile phones.

Cherie Blair, foundation founder and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, presented the findings yesterday at the Middle East Telco World Summit.

"I think it's all about showing what women can do, about showing that women actually can contribute to the economy and still fulfill their desires to be a wife and mother and also be respectful to their local community", Blair told Gulf News in an interview.

"Here in the Middle East we have more educated women coming forward, this will allow them to put that education to use and the mobile phone allows them to do that", she said.

Blair said the study by her foundation was undertaken following an initial study done in 2010 (Report) that showed encouraging women to enter the workforce could yield up to $13 billion in revenue for mobile operators.

(Source: Gulfnews)
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