Kenyan men spend more money on mobile phone services such as data and airtime than their female counterparts, a new study shows.
The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2023 by the international association for mobile network operators (GSMA) shows that on average, female mobile owners in Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt spend 32% less on mobile services than male mobile owners.
“This gap is widest in Sub-Saharan Africa (32%) where mobile data and services are least affordable. The gender gap in mobile services spending is significant in every region even when other mobile gender gaps are relatively low,” the report said.
The report’s survey covered 13,800 respondents from 12 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the six Sub-Saharan African countries, as well as Asia’s Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.
From Latin America, the survey covered Mexico and Guatemala from Latin America.
Overall mobile phone usage in Kenya in 2022 was higher among men at 6.8 average number of mobile use cases per week against 5.1 in women, which is however a drop from last year’s 7.5 and 5.0 in men and women respectively.
At the same time, mobile internet adoption among Kenyan men stood at 59 per cent, which is a stagnation from last year compared to women’s 39 per cent from 36 per cent last year.
“Given women’s lower levels of employment, income and financial autonomy, this gender gap in spending is perhaps unsurprising. However, it emphasises that even when women own a mobile phone, their usage is not comparable to men,” the report added.
According to GSMA, addressing the gender gap will require tackling both the structural inequalities that limit women’s income and employment, as well as the barriers women face to using mobile services.
This includes making mobile services more affordable.
“Closing this gap is also an important commercial opportunity for the mobile industry. Of the estimated $230 billion that the mobile industry would see if the mobile gender gap closed by 2030, approximately 85% (about $195 billion) would come from closing the gender gap in mobile services spending alone. This indicates that the vast majority would be derived from closing the gender gap in mobile use,” the report said.
