The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use
Mobile phones are rapidly being adopted in less developed countries, with widely acknowledged commensurate socio-economic benefits, including United Nations SDGs advocating for increased ownership of mobile phones to promote women’s empowerment. While overall mobile phone ownership is rising quickly...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Artículo preliminar |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2023
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140338 |
| _version_ | 1855528783342206976 |
|---|---|
| author | Warner, James Marilign, Yalew M. Habte, Yetimwork |
| author_browse | Habte, Yetimwork Marilign, Yalew M. Warner, James |
| author_facet | Warner, James Marilign, Yalew M. Habte, Yetimwork |
| author_sort | Warner, James |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Mobile phones are rapidly being adopted in less developed countries, with widely acknowledged commensurate socio-economic benefits, including United Nations SDGs advocating for increased ownership of mobile phones to promote women’s empowerment. While overall mobile phone ownership is rising quickly in Ethiopia, it is lagging for rural women, particularly married rural women. Overall, we find that married men are approximately five times more likely to own a phone than their wives even though married women with phones are more active in agricultural decision making. This lack of female mobile phone ownership should be considered within the broader context of several recent Ethiopian digital initiatives, including mobile banking and mobile payments. These initiatives are likely to provide greater benefits to those individuals that own a mobile phone. By applying gender analysis to phone ownership, we believe that we can anticipate some potentially unexpected negative consequences for women created by these mobile phone initiatives. This paper outlines current rural sex-disaggregated phone ownership trends, determinants of phone ownership, and related impacts on intrahousehold decision making. We believe that by identifying these gender differences in mobile phone ownership, policymakers can better target their digital economy initiatives. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace140338 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1403382025-12-02T21:03:03Z The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use Warner, James Marilign, Yalew M. Habte, Yetimwork innovation women's empowerment gender sustainable development goals households socioeconomic development agriculture developing countries marriage decision making rural areas women Mobile phones are rapidly being adopted in less developed countries, with widely acknowledged commensurate socio-economic benefits, including United Nations SDGs advocating for increased ownership of mobile phones to promote women’s empowerment. While overall mobile phone ownership is rising quickly in Ethiopia, it is lagging for rural women, particularly married rural women. Overall, we find that married men are approximately five times more likely to own a phone than their wives even though married women with phones are more active in agricultural decision making. This lack of female mobile phone ownership should be considered within the broader context of several recent Ethiopian digital initiatives, including mobile banking and mobile payments. These initiatives are likely to provide greater benefits to those individuals that own a mobile phone. By applying gender analysis to phone ownership, we believe that we can anticipate some potentially unexpected negative consequences for women created by these mobile phone initiatives. This paper outlines current rural sex-disaggregated phone ownership trends, determinants of phone ownership, and related impacts on intrahousehold decision making. We believe that by identifying these gender differences in mobile phone ownership, policymakers can better target their digital economy initiatives. 2023-08-30 2024-03-14T12:09:21Z 2024-03-14T12:09:21Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140338 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Warner, James; Marilign, Yalew M.; and Habte, Yetimwork. 2023. The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2196. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136868. |
| spellingShingle | innovation women's empowerment gender sustainable development goals households socioeconomic development agriculture developing countries marriage decision making rural areas women Warner, James Marilign, Yalew M. Habte, Yetimwork The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title | The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title_full | The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title_fullStr | The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title_full_unstemmed | The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title_short | The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| title_sort | digital divide in rural ethiopia determinants and implications of sex disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use |
| topic | innovation women's empowerment gender sustainable development goals households socioeconomic development agriculture developing countries marriage decision making rural areas women |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140338 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT warnerjames thedigitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse AT marilignyalewm thedigitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse AT habteyetimwork thedigitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse AT warnerjames digitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse AT marilignyalewm digitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse AT habteyetimwork digitaldivideinruralethiopiadeterminantsandimplicationsofsexdisaggregatedmobilephoneownershipanduse |