October 8, 2009
How Mobile Phones Contribute To Female Progress In Developing Nations
For those in developing nations, a mobile phone is more than a communications luxury. These tiny handsets act as hubs for mobile banking, entrepreneurship, fact-checking, and public health announcements - and they may be the key to women's economic equality. Jezebel on last week's report on telecoms in emerging markets from the Economist.
The innovations in technology have been able to provide women with various ways to make a living.
Bouncing a great-grandchild on her knee in her house in Bukaweka, a village in eastern Uganda, Mary Wokhwale gestures at her surroundings. "My mobile phone has been my livelihood," she says. In 2003 Ms Wokhwale was one of the first 15 women in Uganda to become "village phone" operators. Thanks to a microfinance loan, she was able to buy a basic handset and a roof-mounted antenna to ensure a reliable signal. She went into business selling phone calls to other villagers, making a small profit on each call. This enabled her to pay back her loan and buy a second phone. The income from selling phone calls subsequently enabled her to set up a business selling beer, open a music and video shop and help members of her family pay their children's school fees.
Business has dropped off somewhat in the past couple of years as mobile phones have fallen in price and many people in her village can afford their own. But Ms Wokhwale's life has been transformed.
[via Gizmodo]
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