Source | www.mwomen.org

In February 2010, the GSMA, in partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, identified a gender gap in mobile phone access in the developing world – 300 million less women than men own mobile phones and the potentially life changing tools that they can provide, such as access to health services, banking, employment opportunities and educational tools.

The GSMA mWomen Programme addresses the key barriers to women’s access to mobile phones, including total cost of ownership, technical literacy, and cultural barriers to adoption. We will do this by creating an enabling market environment, which includes designing and implementing the mWomen business case in collaboration with the mobile industry and developing and delivering life changing services via the mobile channel through public/private partnerships with the international development community.

To date there are 22 MNOs and Ericsson, Google and Nokia who represent the mobile industry in the GSMA mWomen Working Group; key international development community partners include: USAID, the U.S. State Department, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and the BBC World Service Trust.

The vision of the programme is that by increasing access to mobile connectivity and services, women living on less than $2 per day will achieve a greater sense of security, independence, economic opportunity and connection with the world outside their homes. This in turn will lead to greater empowerment and control over their lives and those of their families. Specifically, the programme aims to close the mobile phone gender gap by 50% over three years, increasing access to mobile phones for 150 million women and leveraging the mobile channel to provide value added services at scale in women’s health, education, finance and entrepreneurship. The programme is aligned with the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Full overview | GSMA mWomen Programme Overview