India stands tall now when it comes to the developing pace in the world. We are currently experiencing an exploding growth in all manner of ways. This includes the internet literacy as well. As per the records, there are now around 462 million active internet users in India, up 90% from March 2015. While more than 153 million people in the country are active on various social media profiles, but women make up a dismal share.
The fact is shocking as women used to dominate social media all over the world, but the story is not same in India. Reports say that for every woman using Facebook, there are 3 active male users on social media. The study has been done by a UK Consultancy named ‘We Are Social’. Comprising 24% women, the country’s Facebook user base gender ratio is one of the worst in the Asia-Pacific Region, joining its neighbors – Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh – at the bottom of the list.
Resident of Singapore, Simon Kemp, who is the regional managing partner of Asia at ‘We Are Social’ wrote in the report that, “This iniquity of access between men and women may explain part of the reason why digital connectivity levels are so low across South Asia, but there’s no obvious reason for the imbalance.”
According to GSM Association, who monitors global mobile industry, specified that there were 114 million fewer women as compared to men who owned a smartphone in 2015. He also explained that the parameters of Facebook’s study are based on the number of individual accounts, and not on the devices they use. Therefore, shared mobiles and handsets shouldn’t affect the metrics.
The root cause of this difference in numbers of women and men users comes from the culture which restricts autonomy for women. This is not the same as sharing a computer with the whole family- it is intended to seek permission and limit their usage.
Earlier this year, India became the world’s second largest smartphone users market and brands have experimented with low-cost, high-utility products for India’s price-sensitive market. Also, one of the companies even promised as low as $4 data compatible smartphone.
Despite these lucrative offers and such option freedom, women and men have not adopted smartphones with matching speed. One of the rural users told that it is general that men in rural India use smartphone where women tend to use the basic phones- one without net access.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s Internet.org failure in India is a testament that the country craves basic, open internet over more sophisticated social media offerings. Priti Shukla, a college student said that “Facebook alone won’t help us until we have access to Google. Google is what gives us all the information… We need YouTube also because like we get information from Google, we can watch that information through videos on YouTube.”
So, various initiatives like Helping Women Get Online will initiate the social media involvement in women. It is a partnership between Google, Intel, Hindustan Unilever, and Axis Bank.
