How do they use their phones?
Women use their phones to stay connected, manage financial transactions, consume entertainment, express themselves, and access information for everyday needs. Patterns of use are shaped by relevance, familiarity, and the constraints of their social and material contexts.
Mobile Ownership (DHS-8 2023)
63%Smartphone Ownership
18%Uses Mobile for Financial Transactions
54%
Reach and Connection
Uses the phone primarily for making and receiving calls, typically with family, and occasionally to connect with customers.
Entertainment and Stress Relief
Entertainment is generally limited to listening to the radio and occasionally music stored on an SD card.
Learning and Growth
Learning tends to occur passively through radio, often limited to religious programming.
Transactions and Financial Security
Receives money via Wave cards or USSD and may rely on others for withdrawing cash.
Self Promotion and Expression
Digital use does not typically extend to self-promotion or personal expression.
Tracking
Does not typically engage in financial or health tracking on digital devices.
How do they get access to their phones?
Access to phones is often mediated through family and social networks, with devices acquired, shared, or supported through these relationships. Patterns of ownership, control, and continuity vary across geographies and reflect broader gendered and economic conditions.
Is in the Top 40% by Household Wealth Nationally
53%Has Year Long Employment or Livelihood Activity
36%
Access to Device and Consumables
Likely to gain access to a basic phone after marriage, often through a husband, primarily to remain reachable. Prior to ownership, access may depend on shared or borrowed devices.
Likely uses a basic or feature phone, though may occassionally own a smartphone. Devices are invariably second-hand and replacement occurs only when the existing device becomes unusable and is dependent on others’ financial capacity or availability of a spare device.
Almost entirely dependent on others for airtime.
How do they learn how to use their phones?
Women build digital capability over time through a combination of early exposure, literacy, and support from others. Facilitators, such as family members, peers, or intermediaries often play a role in shaping how skills are developed and how confidence is built.
Can Read Full Sentences
22%Cannot Read at All
68%
Base Capabilities
Limited education and minimal early exposure may mean that learning begins in adulthood. Confidence in digital capabilities may be low, with use largely restricted to what others set up for her.
Learning Style
Curiosity may be limited to basic communication and entertainment needs. Learns slowly through demonstration, repetition, and pattern recognition, and may hand over devices to facilitators to complete tasks rather than learning actively. Requires sustained guidance to build confidence.
Learning Needs
Relies on ongoing facilitation for basic phone operations such as saving contacts, reading messages, or using mobile money.
Facilitators
Relies on whoever is available for assistance with basic phone use and depends on shopkeepers or mobile money agents for financial transactions.
What are the challenges they navigate?
Women navigate interruptions in access, limitations in resources, and a range of digital risks. Their use of phones is shaped by social expectations and relationship dynamics, which influence when, how, and how freely they are able to stay connected.
Has Internalised Domestic Violence
16%Participates in Household Decision Making
36%Household has Electricity
92%
Disruptions caused by Financial Shocks, Damage, Degradation and Loss
May experience prolonged periods of disconnection when dependent on others for replacement. Borrowing may be occasional and primarily limited to basic communication needs.
Managing Recurring Costs (data, airtime etc.)
Largely dependent on others for airtime top-ups, which may result in intermittent communication gaps.
Charging Cycles
Typically has home access to electricity, though recurring short interruptions may occur due to outages or battery degradation associated with second-hand devices. May manage usage carefully during these periods.
Norms, Control and Coercion
Normative scrutiny may be limited where use is confined to a basic device and essential communication.
Perception of Risk
May hold a more generalised perception of digital spaces as unsafe, associating smartphone use with broader moral or reputational risk.
Response to Digital Risk
Fear of reputational harm or exposure to inappropriate content may result in limiting use to basic devices or essential communication only.