MobileActive.org

Mobile phones have grown at an extraordinary rate throughout the developing world in recent years. They are potentially an invaluable economic asset to the poor and an important tool for strengthening social ties. Mobile phones may also help women overcome physical boundaries, especially in places where they are separated from their support networks and bound within their husband’s social sphere.

This paper examines the impact of mobile phones on the status of women in India. Using nation-wide cross-sectional data at the individual level, the author builds on Jensen and Oster’s model for measuring women’s status. The author uses domestic violence, decision-making autonomy, child preferences and economic independence as proxies for bargaining power and status of women in their household and society.

Mobile phones significantly decrease both men and women’s tolerance for domestic violence, increase women’s autonomy in mobility and economic independence, but do not have significant effects on child preferences and other measures of autonomy. Where the effects are significant, they are also large and in some cases equivalent to more than five years of education. These results suggest that the Government of India and those of other countries should consider mobile phones as a policy instrument for empowering women.