{"id":87352,"date":"2026-06-10T15:53:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/?p=87352"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:53:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:53:45","slug":"810-million-women-still-not-using-mobile-internet-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-compared-to-595-million-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/?p=87352","title":{"rendered":"810 million women still not using mobile internet in low- and middle-income countries, compared to 595 million men"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMUNICATO STAMPA – CONTENUTO PROMOZIONALE<\/p>\n

Persistent barriers related to affordability, skills and safety concerns continue to limit women’s digital inclusion in low- and middle-income countries\u00a0<\/p>\n

LONDON, June 10, 2026 \/PRNewswire\/ — The gender gap in mobile internet adoption\u00a0narrowed\u00a0slightly\u00a0in 2025\u00a0according to the\u00a0‘Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026,’\u00a0published\u00a0today by\u00a0the GSMA.\u00a0However, progress\u00a0remains\u00a0slow and uneven. Women across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are still 12% less likely to use mobile internet than men. This translates to 200 million fewer\u00a0women than men, with the total figure for\u00a0women\u00a0not using mobile internet in LMICs sitting at\u00a0810 million.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geographic\u00a0disparities\u00a0persist\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the 810 million women\u00a0still not using mobile internet in LMICs, more than two thirds live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the regions with the widest\u00a0gender\u00a0gaps in mobile internet adoption, at 26% and 25%, respectively.\u00a0The\u00a0gender\u00a0gap also tends to be\u00a0two to three times\u00a0wider\u00a0in rural areas compared to urban areas\u00a0across LMICs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barriers to getting online\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The primary way people in LMICs access the internet is via mobile phones.\u00a0Yet the\u00a0gender gap in smartphone ownership in LMICs\u00a0is\u00a013%; around 210 million fewer women\u00a0than men\u00a0owning smartphones. The top barriers\u00a0are\u00a0affordability\u00a0(primarily\u00a0of handsets), literacy and digital skills. Women are disproportionality affected by these barriers, due to social norms and structural inequalities such as lower education and income.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA, said,\u00a0“While there has been a slow narrowing of the mobile gender gap since 2022, much more is needed to address persistent and significant gender gaps in mobile internet adoption and use. We live in an increasingly digital world and technologies such as AI are creating greater digital divides and inequities, elevating the need to ensure digital inclusion for all.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Closing the mobile gender gap\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

From 2023 to 2030, closing the gender gap in mobile internet adoption in LMICs could add $1.3 trillion in GDP. Access to mobile internet can transform women’s lives, giving them greater resilience in the face of economic, climate and political shocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 50 mobile operators have signed up to the\u00a0GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative, to accelerate women’s digital and financial inclusion, reaching over 90 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services since 2016.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

COMUNICATO STAMPA – CONTENUTO PROMOZIONALE: Immediapress è un servizio di diffusione di comunicati stampa in testo originale redatto direttamente dall’ente che lo emette. L’Adnkronos e Immediapress non sono responsabili per i contenuti dei comunicati trasmessi<\/p>\n

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immediapress\/pr-newswire<\/p><\/p>\n

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COMUNICATO STAMPA – CONTENUTO PROMOZIONALE Persistent barriers related to affordability, skills and safety concerns continue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":87353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-87352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comunicati","tag-immediapress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87413,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87352\/revisions\/87413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/87353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciaoup.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}