Most women in India will never own a cellphone due to their fathers or husbands forbidding it. It's not that smartphones are expensive or unavailable for purchase, but rather they allow new advances in technology that they believe should be reserved for men. Families in India tend to allocate all their assets and resources, even school education, for their sons, since the girls will eventually be married off to another family. One of the largest gender gaps in the world is in India, with only 28% of females owning smartphones. Out of the 30% of female internet users, only 9% of those females know how to do a simple internet search or send an email. On the other side of the world, these tasks are essential to living. As a college student, there's not a day that goes by where I don't use the internet to research a topic or send an email.
India's largest cellphone brand company, Micromax has been trying to break the gender inequality and target women by creating affordable handsets and local-language operating systems. They are also projecting an increase in sales by promoting the safety of women, so that the men would buy the cell phones that are designed with a panic buttons to alert their family and the police in case a dangerous situation arises. These models are expected to launch in January. Norway's Telenor ASA also has a team that goes door to door in villages selling sim cards at an extremely cheap rate only if bought by a women. The purpose of this is to encourage men to allow their wife or daughters a cell phone, since it is offered for such a cheap amount. Another program called, Helping Women Get Online has been offering free access to the internet, tablets and smartphones through thousands of bicycles that go to several villages in India. They have also been teaching these women simple things they can do online and how to effectively use their resources.
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