Women's Day 2022: Now, 2 in 3 households in India have women using smartphones, says report

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, community social media platform LocalCircles on Tuesday stated that there has been a significant rise in women using tech. It said that in 2 in 3 households, women who currently own a smartphone/gadget did not own one 10 years ago. 

Additionally, LocalCircles mentioned that of those surveyed, there are whopping 68 per cent households where women who were not using smartphones or other gadgets a decade back but are doing so now.
 
It also mentioned that 30 per cent of those surveyed did not own a smartphone or any other gadget even now whereas 2 per cent did not have any opinion.

 How many women own smartphones in India?
 
Citing a Deloitte report, it pointed out that of the 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in 2021 in India, 750 million were smartphone users. It further stated that around 200 million households now have one or more women using internet for something or the other and that this number is up from barely 40 million households in 2012.
 
As per LocalCircles, “This massive rise has been driven by availability of low-cost smartphones and mobile data connection available throughout the country.”
 
What do women utilise technology for?
 
LocalCircles explains that women who have started using smartphones or gadgets in the last decade are using technology to stay in touch with family/friends, finding information, shopping, making payments, booking tickets or online services, creating content, employment and even running a business.
 
This survey also makes it clear that staying connected with family/friends, finding information, online shopping and making payments using the internet are the top use cases for women. As per LocalCircles, finding information entails taking online classes, consuming news, listening to music and viewing videos.
 
Will more and more women use technology for finding jobs and even to mobilize their community? “While these are early use cases, it is only a matter of time when many more women will use this connectivity to find employment, establish businesses as well as raise issues and mobilise their community,” the survey notes.

Besides empowering women with awareness and information, usage of gadgets and smartphones has played a role in making things better in areas like education or employment opportunities or ability to raise issues.
 
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