810m Women Still Not Using Mobile Internet

810 million women are still not using mobile internet in lower-to-middle-income countries, according to The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026 by GSMA. More than two thirds of these women live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the regions with the widest gender gaps in mobile internet adoption, at 26 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.

The gender gap is, unsurprisingly, two to three times wider in rural areas compared to urban areas across LMICs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. Least developed countries and landlocked developing countries also suffer from wider gender gaps in mobile internet adoption.

A little good news though. The gender gap in mobile internet adoption narrowed slightly in 2025.However, progress remains slow and uneven. Women across LMICs are still 12 per cent less likely to use mobile internet than men. This translates to 200 million fewer women than men, with the total figure for women not using mobile internet in LMICs sitting at 810 million.

Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Digital Inclusion at the GSMA, said, “While there has been a slow narrowing of the mobile gender gap since 2022, much more is needed to address the persistent and significant gender gaps in mobile internet adoption and use. We live in an increasingly digital world and the proliferation of technologies such as AI are creating greater digital divides and inequities, elevating the need to ensure digital inclusion for all.”

The 9^th edition of the GSMA report examines data on women’s access to and use of mobile across LMICs, the barriers they face, and how these findings compare to men. It also shares recommendations for how to close the mobile gender gap and get women online, which is vital to support their livelihoods, access to essential services, and ability to achieve their economic potential.

Barriers To Getting Online

The primary means of accessing the internet is via mobile phones. Yet the gender gap in smartphone ownership in LMICs is 13 per cent, which equates to around 210 million fewer women than men owning smartphones in these countries, making it challenging for women to access the internet.

Despite awareness of mobile internet remaining high and almost equal among men and women, several barriers to adoption remain. The top reported barriers are affordability (primarily of handsets) and literacy and digital skills. Women are disproportionality affected by these barriers, feeling them more acutely due to social norms and structural inequalities such as lower education and income.

Even once women are online, they often face barriers to using mobile internet as frequently and for as many use cases as men. Women’s top reported barriers to further use are safety and security concerns, affordability (particularly data but also handsets) and, to some extent, the connectivity experience. These barriers prevent women from reaping the full benefits of mobile internet to improve their lives.

“Addressing the barriers that limit women’s access to and use of mobile internet is crucial. There is an urgent need to accelerate the pace of progress that has been made to date, which requires informed, targeted action and investment by all stakeholders working together to realise the significant social and commercial benefits to women, societies and economies of addressing the mobile gender gap,” reflected Sibthorpe.

Closing The Mobile Gender Gap

Closing the gender gap in mobile internet adoption in LMICs could add $1.3 trillion in additional GDP, and closing the gender gap in mobile ownership and use in LMICs could deliver $230 billion in additional revenue to the mobile industry. Access to mobile internet can also transform women’s lives, giving them greater resilience in the face of economic, climate and political crises and shocks, as well as access to digital services to improve their livelihoods.

With strengthened collaboration across government, industry and the development community, progress towards closing the mobile gender gap can be accelerated. With targeted and sustained intervention to improve the affordability of handsets and data, expand digital skills and literacy programmes, address safety and security concerns, design mobile products and services to meet women’s needs, and tackle social norms and structural inequalities, the international community can ensure women are not left behind in an increasingly digital world.

Progress is being made through a consortium of 50+ mobile operators through the GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative. So far, over 90 million additional women have been reached with mobile internet or mobile money services since 2016.