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A digital gender divide can be found in India and this significantly impacts women's socioeconomic empowerment, autonomy, civic engagement, and livelihoods. To address this, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we undertook this project to identify gender norms limiting women’s mobile phone ownership and usage in peri-urban cities across three states in India.

We conducted field immersions and formative research to identify key barriers to women’s digital use and the influence of internalized gender norms on digital access. This also involved understanding the mindsets and behaviours of gatekeepers of women’s phone use. Research findings showed that young men are more regressive than older men and women, and young women on gender roles (a trend observed globally). Further, women have internalised these regressive gender norms. However, young men have progressive digital attitudes — providing a lever for change; and an entry point for interventions. Based on these insights, we developed a transmedia communication strategy to challenge regressive gender-digital norms.

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