SDG5: Gender Equality

The mobile industry contributes to SDG 5 by increasing women’s access to and use of mobile technology, which helps to accelerate both social and economic development.^[20] The mobile industry is also focused on increasing women’s participation and leadership in the technology sector.

In 2022, 1.9 billion women in LMICs (equivalent to 81% of the female adult population across LMICs) owned a mobile phone, an increase of more than 340 million since 2017.^[21] In the same year, 1.4 billion women in LMICs used mobile internet, representing 61% of women in LMICs. The majority of female mobile owners in LMICs agree that owning a mobile device makes them feel safer, helps them in their day-to-day work and provides access to information they would not have otherwise.^[22]

However, the latest data shows that while more women are using mobile internet than ever before, their rate of adoption has slowed for the second year in a row, leaving the substantial gender gap in mobile internet relatively unchanged. There has also been a reduction in both total and female usage across a number of mobile-enabled services. This was most likely the result of face-to-face activities returning post pandemic and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. These factors contributed to the slight decline in the SDG 5 mobile impact score in 2022.