I was an early beneficiary of the way in which new technology can transform a woman's life. In the 1980s, when my older children were still toddlers, it was the arrival of the personal computer that allowed me to combine child-rearing with continuing my career as a barrister, largely from home.
At a time when computer literacy was rare in the legal profession, my little knowledge led to me chairing the Bar Council's IT committee. In our age defined by technology, those cut off from this information revolution are at a huge disadvantage. Today, on International Women's Day, it is worrying, as recent research from the GSMA association of mobile operators and my own foundation has confirmed, that it is women in particular who are missing out on this revolution in many parts of the developing world.
Women in Africa are 23 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone, 24 per cent in the Middle East and 37 per cent in South Asia. As women in these countries testify, there are wide-ranging benefits that simply owning a mobile phone – if they've managed to acquire one – brings to their lives. In parts of the world where there are few, if any, landlines (indeed, the almost universal nature of mobile coverage means these networks will never be built), nine out of ten women said a mobile phone made them feel safer. Almost as many said it made them feel more independent, and 41 per cent say it has increased their income and opportunities.
The role mobile phones play in increasing economic opportunities for women is transformative. Women in Asia, Africa and the Middle East have told me how having their own income gives them more confidence and status within the family that leads to their having an input into key decisions. They are, for example, much more likely to be able to insist their daughters receive an education. Greater financial independence gives women more control over their own bodies, the power to insist on safe sex, for example.
News Source:- http://www.independent.co.uk
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