Report: Kenyan men spend more time, money on mobile phones

By Peter Ochieng

Kenyan men are spending more time and money on their mobile phones, compared to women.

According to Mobile Gender Gap Report 2023 study conducted by the Intentional Association for Mobile Network Operators (GSMA), Kenyan men spend more money on mobile phone services such as data and airtime than women.

The report states that on average, female mobile owners in Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt spend 32% less on mobile services than male mobile owners.

It has everything to do with employment and financial disparities between men and women in the country, says the report.

“Given women’s lower levels of employment, income and financial autonomy, this gender gap in spending is perhaps unsurprising. However, it emphasises that even when women own a mobile phone, their usage is not comparable to men,” adds the report.

The report recommends making of the mobile services affordable in a bid to try and close the gap.

“Closing this gap is also an important commercial opportunity for the mobile industry. Of the estimated $230 billion that the mobile industry would see if the mobile gender gap closed by 2030, approximately 85% (about $195 billion) would come from closing the gender gap in mobile services spending alone. This indicates that the vast majority would be derived from closing the gender gap in mobile use."

The survey covered 13,800 respondents from 12 low and middle-income countries in the six Sub-Saharan African countries, as well as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.