who's got the phone? the gendered use of telephones at the bottom of the pyramid ayesha...
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Who's got the phone? The gendered use of telephones at the bottom of the pyramid
Ayesha Zainudeen, Tahani Iqbal, Rohan Samarajiva & Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara
ICA Communication & Technology Section, Montreal26 May 2008
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Research questions
• Is there a gender divide in access to phones at the BOP?
• Do women and men really differ in their use of the phone at the BOP?
• Overview:– Teleuse@BOP2 background & methodology– Divide in access @ BOP? – Differences in use @ BOP?– [The case of Pakistan– Implications] if possible
*excluding FANA/FATA – Tribal Areas; **excluding N&E Provinces
‘Bottom of the pyramid’ (BOP) defined
• Many definitions of poverty, but this study uses SEC D and E; between ages 18-60
• SEC defined by education and occupation of chief wage earner, but it is closely correlated with income levels
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
Population (million) 165 1,095 20 89 64
Target population of study (million)
77* 260 4** 41 15
SEC D & E
SEC A, B & C
Quantitative sample
• BOP segment is representative of the BOP population– Diary respondents also representative of BOP
• Small (non-representative sample) taken of SEC groups A, B & C for comparison purposes
SAMPLESouth Asia South East Asia TOTAL
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
TOP (SEC A, B & C)
731 652 596 92 348 2,420
BOP (SEC D & E)
1,081 3,348 481 1,008 352 6,269
Total 1,812 4,000 1,077 1,100 700 8,689
Error margin at 95 percent CI
2.7% 1.5% 3.0% 3.0% 7.0%
Divide in telecom access @ BOP?
Why worry about gender and telephone access?
• Many benefits of access to telecom; information, empowerment, etc…
• Lots of focus on creating equality in access – research, projects, etc.
Is there a gender divide at the BOP?
Primary access modes
2.7 : 1
2.7 : 11.8 : 1
1 : 1
1.1 : 1
1.9 : 1
0.3 : 1 0.7 : 1
‘Male dominated’ access modes?
Who decided to get female mobile owners connected?
• South Asian males also tended to dominate decisions with regards to expenditure on food, electricity and the household fixed phone
74%
9%
26%
91%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
South Asia South East Asia
Male Female
Internet use & awareness
• Large gender divide in Internet use, even in the Philippines and Thailand
• Divide in awareness of the internet was highest in India
2.9%
0.5%
2.2%
11.9%
13.6%
0.8%0.1%
0.9%
5.7%
7.3%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
% a
t BO
P
Male Female
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines ThailandRatio (M/F) 0.93 1.48 1.07 1.00 1.11
Is there a gender divide at the BOP?
• In Pakistan, India and to a limited extent Sri Lanka, YES– Males more likely to use mobiles and public phones; men even dominate the
decision to buy a phone
– Females more likely to use other peoples’ phones if not household fixed phones
• In the Philippines or Thailand, NO
36%
19%
41%
62%
77%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
% w
ho
ow
n a
ph
on
e a
t B
OP
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Ra
tio
of
us
e (
ma
le:f
em
ale
)
Phone ownership at BOP Ratio of mobile access at BOP (male:female)
Differences in use @ BOP?
A look at the literature…
• Several studies suggest that compared to men, women use telephones:– more frequently;– for longer;– and primarily for ‘relationship maintenance’
Moyal 1992; Fischer 1992; Rakow 1992; Claisse and Rowe 1993; Ling 1998; Smoreda and Licoppe 2000; etc,
Men receive and make as many calls as women (except for Pakistan)
25 15 27 26 14 15 11 10
48 4818
10
19 20
9 125 5
37 3243
25
46 46
24 2716 15
85 79
0
20
40
60
80
100
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
aver
age
calls
per
mon
th
Outgoing
Incoming
Source: Diary
Men at the BOP talk as long as women(except for Pakistan)
3.2
4.5
3.03.3
2.52.8
4.3 4.24.7
4.5
152116
148 151
7496
68 70
351316
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
Min
utes
per
cal
l
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Min
utes
per
mon
th
Ave. number of minutes per call Ave. number of minutes per month
Source: Diary
Men @ BOP use the phone for same purposes as women
(except for Pakistan)
• Although studies in Western Africa have found that women make and receive more social calls than men (Huyer, S., Hafkin, N., Ertl, H., and Dryburgh, H., 2006)
71%87%
70% 70% 65% 67% 57% 68% 75% 71%
22%9%
30% 30% 35% 33% 43% 32% 25% 29%6.3% 3.6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Mal
e
Fem
ale
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
% o
f ca
lls (
inco
min
g +
out
goin
g)
No response
Intstrumental
RelationshipMaintainance
Source: Diary
The strange case of Pakistan
Pakistan
• Severe divide in mobile access/ownership– Decisions taken by men
• Little use of public facilities by women, more often use friends, neighbors, family’s phones, if at all
• Few calls as a result, but calls are longer in duration
• More relationship-maintenance, etc.
Implications
• Does the gender divide close as penetration grows?– Need time-series data and further study– If at all, not in the short-term
• If countries want to see the divide close, policies which promote greater mobile access will benefit respective countries
36%
19%
41%
62%
77%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
% w
ho
ow
n a
ph
on
e a
t B
OP
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Ra
tio
of
us
e (
ma
le:f
em
ale
)
Phone ownership at BOP Ratio of mobile access at BOP (male:female)
Many plan to get connected by mid-2008; mostly to mobiles will the gap narrow? 2008 data will show
36%
19%
41%
62%
77%
70%
50%
72%78%
86%
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand
Con
nect
ion
s at
BO
P (
mill
ions
)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% o
f ho
useh
olds
at
BO
P w
ith a
tel
epho
ne
Already own something Don't own but plan to buy
Current ownership at BOP (%) Penetration at BOP by mid 2008
Implications
• Gender divide on mobile has serious implications for up-take of new SMS-based services by women
• Pakistani universal service policies may be less imbalanced
– If funds are put into promoting mobile access, not public access only
– With regard to funds put into public access (telecenters), make sure that the public-access points are explicitly designed to be hospitable to women
