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, Montreal
26 May 2008

`
 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
 ‘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 SEC A, B & C

SEC D & E

Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

Population (million) 165 1,095 20 89 64

Target population of study

77* 260 4** 41 15
(million)

*excluding FANA/FATA – Tribal Areas; **excluding N&E Provinces

 Quantitative sample

South Asia South East Asia TOTAL

SAMPLE
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

TOP
731 652 596 92 348 2,420
(SEC A, B & C)

BOP
1,081 3,348 481 1,008 352 6,269
(SEC D & E)

Total 1,812 4,000 1,077 1,100 700 8,689

Error margin at 95
2.7% 1.5% 3.0% 3.0% 7.0%
percent CI

• 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
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

1.1 : 1
1:1 1.9 : 1

2.7 : 1
1.8 : 1
2.7 : 1

0.3 : 1 0.7 : 1
‘Male dominated’ access modes?
 Who decided to get female mobile owners
connected?

100%
26%
80%

60%
91%
40% 74%

20%

9%
0%
South Asia South East Asia

Male Female

• South Asian males also tended to dominate decisions with regards to

expenditure on food, electricity and the household fixed phone
 Internet use & awareness

• Large gender divide in Internet use, even in the Philippines and Thailand
16%
13.6%
14%
11.9%
12%
10%
% at BOP

8% 7.3%
5.7%
6%
4% 2.9%
2.2%
2% 0.8% 0.5%0.1% 0.9%
0%
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

Male Female

• Divide in awareness of the internet was highest in India

Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

Ratio (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 90% 3.0

80% 77%
2.5
70%

% who own a phone at BOP

62%

Ratio of use (male:female)

60% 2.0

50%
41% 1.5
40% 36%

30% 1.0

19%
20%
0.5
10%

0% 0.0
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

Phone ownership at BOP Ratio of mobile access at BOP (male:female)

– Females more likely to use other peoples’ phones if not household fixed phones

• In the Philippines or Thailand, NO

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)
average calls per month

100 85
79
80
46 46 37 32
60 43 Outgoing
40 25 24 27 Incoming
18 19 20 16 15
12 48 48
20 25
10
27 26
9
5 5
15 14 15 11 10
0
Male

Male

Male

Male

Male
Female

Female

Female

Female
Female

Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

Source: Diary
 Men at the BOP talk as long as women
(except for Pakistan)

5.0 4.7 400

4.5 4.3 4.5
4.2 351 350

Minutes per month

4.0
Minutes per call

316
3.2 3.3 300
3.0 2.8
3.0 2.5
250
200
2.0 152 148 151 150
116
96 100
1.0 74 68 70
50
0.0 0
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

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)
% of calls (incoming + outgoing)

100% 6.3% 3.6%

9% 25%
22% 30% 30% 35% 33% 32% 29%
80% 43% No response
60%
Intstrumental
40% 87%
71% 70% 70% 67% 68% 75% 71%
65% 57% Relationship
20% Maintainance
0%
Male

Female

Male
Female

Male

Female

Male

Male

Female

Female
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

• 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)

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
90% 3.0

80% 77%
2.5
70%
% who own a phone at BOP

62%

Ratio of use (male:female)

60% 2.0

50%
41% 1.5
40% 36%

30% 1.0

19%
20%
0.5
10%

0% 0.0
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

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

% of households at BOP with a telephone

150 100%

86%
Connections at BOP (millions)

125
78% 80%
77%
70% 72%
100
62% 60%

75 50%
41% 40%
36%
50

19% 20%
25

0 0%
Pakistan India Sri Lanka Philippines Thailand

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
more at www.lirneasia.net; search term “BOP”
samarajiva@lirne.net