PTA & GSMA Holds Seminar on Women and Mobile

Mobile phone ownership to more women will result in a host of social and economic goals-said Dr. Ismail Shah in a GSMA Workshop on Mobile & Women. GSMA held a seminar on “Women and Mobile” at PTA headquarters in Islamabad under its strategic agreement to conduct a series of workshops. The Seminar was attended by participants from MOITT, PTA and Mobile operators. PTA & GSMA Holds Seminar on Women and Mobile.

“Women and Mobile” seminar particularly focused on bridging the gender gap: Mobile access and usage in low and middle-income countries. Women and Mobile is a hot topic and the seminar was conducted by experts from GSMA at PTA Headquarters to change the mindset of people in Pakistan by making mobile available to all genders.

PTA & GSMA Holds Seminar on Women and Mobile

Chairman PTA, Dr. Ismail Shah, delivered the opening remarks by shedding light on the Gender Gap in Pakistan. Dr. Shah thanked the GSMA team who took out time to visit Pakistan for this seminar and shared their knowledge and experience. He told the participants that the subject of Women Inclusion in ICT is a priority area for the  Government & Particularly Ms. Anusha Rehman the Minister of IT & Telecom has been advocating this cause at all forums. He also said that:

“Mobile phones connect people and provide them with information that is useful in their daily lives. There is considerable evidence that greater mobile phone penetration rates amongst women is associated with faster economic growth, job creation and profitable businesses”

The main topics of Women and Mobile seminar included:

• The Impact of Mobile Phone on Women and Technology
• Mobile Phone Access and Usage
• Bridging the Mobile Ownership Gender Gap
• Women Benefit From Mobile Phone Ownership.

The Seminar was concluded at a discussion which resulted that by extending the benefits of mobile phone ownership to more women, a host of social and economic goals can be advanced, but 300 million women are missing out on the mobile revolution. This translates to a $13bn revenue opportunity for mobile operators.

Mobile phone ownership to more women will result in a host of social and economic goals

At the end of seminar a group activity was organized in which each group was given a case to frame solutions for gender gap and suggest way for the introduction of mobile for everyone.

GSMA Capacity Building Programme and the Central Asian Cellular Forum (CACF) signed a strategic agreement to deliver GSMA course content in several countries across Central Asia including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This workshop was the second training session under this agreement. The fundamental objective of the agreement between these two organizations is to help policymakers, regulators and other mobile eco-system stakeholders to keep pace with the latest industry developments through training courses that highlight examples of policy and regulatory best practice from around the world.

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