Give That Girl a Phone!

 How important is this topic?  Well, it’s report card season, and I just spent a whole day touring a rabbit hole of information about libraries and mobile devices in developing countries.  It’s beyond important.

Here are the down and dirty facts to get your brain moving: 

• The cost to build a library and create a physical collection is extraordinarily high and certainly not available to developing countries

• 250,000,000 children in developing countries are not learning to read and write, despite being enrolled in school (this is due to a lack of reading resources - see the first fact)

That sucks.  Those are huge numbers of people who do not have access to a human right!  

But get this:

• Of the estimated world population of 7 billion people, 6 billion now have access to a working mobile phone.

• 4.5 billion people have access to a toilet (hmm…)

(Image from bankmycell.com)

Doesn’t this bring us to the obvious solution of using digital platforms to teach reading and writing in developing countries?  Of course!  But as I traveled down that hole, I read more and more about gender inequality when it comes to the ability to own mobile technology.  This has sparked a new passion for me - getting technology into the hands of women and girls.

More facts to get you fired up:

• 64 percent of the 774 million illiterate adults in the world are women – a percent that has not changed in recent years, despite the shrinking number of the global  illiterate population

• In low- and middle-income countries, a woman is 21 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than a man 

• Women are more avid digital readers than men, so getting technology into their hands in crucial

• Women have less access to discretionary money than men, so having digital platforms is even more important for women as they generally would not spend money on books if they were available

• Mobile reading is one way women can access materials that are barred to them, such as information on sexual and reproductive health 

• Women are more likely to read to their children, so getting mobile devices to mothers aids with early literacy in children 

• Women are more likely to share their knowledge of how to use devices with others, so giving a woman a return investment (they pay it forward by mentoring others, educating children, driving business) 

• Women who have access to mobile devices complete higher levels of education than those who do not

So if we know that mobile devices are giving more people access to reading as it is more affordable to read this way, women are more likely to share their learning, and women do not have equal access to mobile devices, it just stands to reason that we need to get more technology into the hands of women.

How can we do this? I found many different companies trying to achieve this very goal.  Here are three.

EDISON Alliance	Library for All	Plan International
This is “a global movement of leaders from the public and private sector who are committed to prioritizing digital inclusion so every person can affordably participate in the digital economy. Through the 1 Billion Lives Challenge, Women in Tech has committed to empowering 1 million women and girls in STEM through skilling, mentorship, advocacy, and community support by 2025” (Moore Aoki, 2022).	This is a more broad initiative that wants to get technology into the hands of everyone in developing countries in order to increase literacy.	This company specifically is looking to bridge the digital divide between men and women in developing countries.

So what do we do?  Well, for the betterment of humanity, let’s get women and girls reading on mobile devices!

Works cited:

Mark, W., & Chew, H. E. (2014). Reading in the Mobile Era. UNESCO. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002274/227436e.pdf

Moore Aoki, A. (2022, May 20). How to close the digital gender divide and empower women. World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/how-to-close-digital-gender-divide/

Stephans, K. (2015, August 6). Library For All breaks down barriers to knowledge in developing world. Knight Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://knightfoundation.org/articles/library-all-breaks-down-barriers-knowledge-developing-world/

Turner, A. (2022, June 1). How Many People Have Smartphones Worldwide (Jun 2022). BankMyCell. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world