1. Factors affecting women’s mobile phone ownership in Myanmar Understanding gender variance in mobile ownership in Myanmar Suthaharan Perampalam, Ayesha Zainudeen & Helani Galpaya This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Canada and the Department for International Development UK. The qualitative data collection was funded by USAID and Australian Aid through the GSMA Connected Women program. Factors affecting women’s ability to purchase mobile phones in Myanmar Helani Galpaya, Ayesha Zainudeen & Gayani Hurulle

2. Myanmar is the latest country to get connected; catching up rapidly 2 Sources: Calculated based on data from ITU, GSMA Intelligence, World Bank and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

3. Gender gap in ownership (%) Male phone owners (% of male population) Female phone owners (% of male population) Male phone owners (% of male population) = - Gender gap in mobile ownership in Myanmar: 29% Base: Myanmar households in accessible areas Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015)

4. Where Myanmar’s poor in 2015 stood against Asian neighbors’ poor 4 Country BOP gender gap (%) Year Years since 1 st mobile license issued GDP/capita(curren t USD) India63201115-19 1,472 Bangladesh52201114839 Pakistan42201171,231 Myanmar34201511,204 Sri Lanka82011153,129 Thailand-6201110-195,540 BOP = ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: refers two lowest strata of socioeconomic classification; in Myanmar, those who earn below approx. USD 291 Sources: LIRNEasia (Teleuse@BOP4 survey data), LIRNEasia (Baseline survey data), World bank (income data), Various (liberalization data)

5. Literature shows low female autonomy in South Asia “Bangladesh is a patriarchal society in addition to being a class society..... The material base of patriarchy is men’s control of property, income and women’s labour. The structural elements of patriarchal control are reinforcing and include aspects of the kinship system, political system and religion ” Cain et al., 1979 “South Asian women are largely excluded from family decision making; they have limited access to, and exercise limited control over resources.” Jejeebhoy and Sathar, 2001 “Jyotisana, 43, a traditionally dressed housewife, uses her husband’s new mobile phone. ‘I’ll never get my own mobile,’ she says.... Clearly, the mobiles are shared between husband and wife, but not on equal terms” David, 2005 5

6. …in contrast to Myanmar “In most of Asia women have had to fight for equality with men primarily on three matters: marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In Burma we have been singularly fortunate in possessing this equality even before we knew it was a problem” Sien, 1958 “[A woman in Myanmar does not] change her name when she marries, nor wear any signs of marriages such a ring.….marriage does not confer upon her husband any power over his wife’s property” Hall, 1898, as cited in Ikeya,2005/2006 Economic power enabled women to undertake merit-making activities such as making donations to pagodas” Kawanami, 2013 6 Why is there a 29% gender gap in mobile ownership?

7. Our Questions What is the role women play in the purchase of mobile phones in Myanmar? If, how, and to what extent does gender play a role in ownership of a mobile phone in Myanmar? – Can gender variance in mobile ownership in Myanmar be explained through variables other than gender, for example household spending, education and employment status etc.? 7

8. Based on two sets of data collected in 2015 Household and ward/village-level data collected Nationally representative of 97% of households and 96.3% of population aged 15 - 65 12,000+ respondents; 8,138 households February-May 2015 8 25 in-depth interviews and 11 focus group discussions 91 respondents from Yangon (urban) and Pantanaw (rural) July 2015 QuantitativeQualitative

9. Data source A– Nationally representative survey (15-65 year olds) Fieldwork: February/March 2015 Covering 12,000+ respondents; 8,138 households At 2.5% margin of error, representative of – 96.3% population aged 15-65 – 97% of total households – 91.8% of total population In all accessible areas of Myanmar – 32 townships (3% of total 330) excluded due to security concerns Stratified four stage PPS cluster sampling design used; stratification by: 1)Population size (big cities; other major cities; smaller townships) 2)Geographic region (Delta, Eastern hills, Long coast, etc.) 3)Urban/rural 9 Survey locations Source: Survey Solutions

10. Data source B – 91 Focus groups discussions and in depth interviews (18-65 year olds) FemaleMaleTotal Urban (Yangon) Rural (Pantanaw) Urban (Yangon) Rural (Pantanaw) ProtocolsParticipants Focus group discussions 44121166 Home visits 10 3225 91 10 Varying age, occupation, socioeconomic categories; mobile owners, non- owner users, non-users Fieldwork: February/March 2015

11. Why don’t more women own mobiles? They cannot afford it; they don’t ‘need’ it. 11 Base: Female non-owners Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) I don’t need it I cannot afford it

12. Affordability 12

13. 13 Base: Myanmar households in accessible areas Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) Household income (using expenditure as proxy) in Myanmar is low Household expenditure (in USD) Over 2/3 of Myanmar’s population is poor

14. 14 Almost half the women not economically active; Even when women work, they earn less than men Labour force participation rate (%) Population age 15-64 TotalMaleFemale 6785.250.5 Source: Myanmar census 2014 Women who are employed earn significantly less than men do Base: Myanmar households in accessible areas Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015)

15. 15 ‘Affordability’ is relative to the cost of a smartphone / ‘touchphone’ Some can afford a keypad phone, but would rather hold out for the opportunity to get a smartphone/‘touch phone’ – Prestige factor – To access data services (Facebook, Viber, etc.) – For games “What I want to get is a smart phone, which I can’t afford to buy yet…[The lowest price for a handset is] more than 60,000-70,000 kyats. But those are not good enough, only handsets that cost more than 1 lakh kyats are good enough to be used...[i.e.,] more durable than the [cheaper] ones. Female non owner, 28, Yangon 1 USD=1235 MMK (31 July 2015)

16. Relevance 16

17. 17 Base: Female non-owners Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) I have no use for it Why don’t more women own mobiles? They cannot afford it; they don’t ‘need’ it.

18. 18 Main reason for not owning a mobile % of non-owners ‘I have no use for it/don’t need one’ Base: Non-owners Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) 54%

19. 19 Base: Non-owners Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) ‘I have no use for it/don’t need one’ Main reason for not owning a mobile % of non-owners

20. 20 Some women don’t see the point of mobiles beyond leisure and entertainment “Some students and housewives are always playing games.... I am not interested in it. I think I will just do my work” Female non owner, 46, SEC D-E, Yangon

21. Gender Effects 21

22. 22 Women are usually ‘Chief Financial Officers’ (CFOs) of the household Family income is (usually) handed over to the ‘primary female’ in the house who budgets for the month and ensures money is available for necessities “I give to her all [the money I earn]... When I want to use it, I ask from her… I don’t keep pocket money. My wife manages financial affairs.” Male owner, 42, SEC C-D, Pantanaw “I usually hand 70% of all my wages to my wife; I keep 30% of the wages to pay for bike repairs in case of breakdown” Male non-owner, 29, Pantanaw

23. 12 With great power comes great responsibility… “Women also have to take care of the family. Instead of spending their money on phone charges, they have to use it for food.” Female non-owner, 36, SEC D-E, Yangon “If I want to buy (a more expensive phone), I can buy. But I want to spend less when buying (a phone) so that I can spend more for my daughter” Female owner, 33, SEC B-C, Yangon “At the moment, I don’t have any plans of buying a phone. I will do so only after my daughter finishes school.” Female non-owner, 47, SEC D-E, Pantanaw As the ‘CFO’s, women feel the need to conserve the limited family budget (even at the expense of their needs)

24. 24 Where the household already has a mobile, those who go outside the house get the phone Women’s role as the home-maker (rather than the bread-winner) has a strong impact on their becoming mobile owners; Whoever goes outside of the house gets priority “If we could buy another phone, it would be for my husband. The next one will be my brother’s. This is because they are working. Only after that will I get my own phone” Female non owner, 47, SEC D-E, Yangon "Communication is more important for boys than for girls. For example, if a family has limited income, the boy should have preference in buy a phone. It is natural that the people who have to go out of the house use mobile phones. In Myanmar, more boys than girls leave the house and go for work. So, they should be given preference.” Female owner, 40, SEC B, Yangon

25. 25 1. To buy a phone or not? How much to spend on a phone? Women more involved 2. What type of handset to buy? Which provider’s SIM to buy? Women less involved 2 components to the ‘decision’ to purchase a mobile phone

26. 26 “I am not sure of the differences [between the services offered by the three operators]... Sometimes [my husband’s] friends talk about prices and sending messages...I’ve never used them, so I don’t know anything about them.” Female non-owner, 36, SEC D-E, Yangon

27. 27 “Before I buy something like laptop or handset, I gather all information as much as I can. I carefully analyzed various brands like Samsung, Huawei, Nokia and tried to find out the differences. I went to all mobile shops in every place in order to gather all information. It made me very tired. And I also accounted for the price as I want to buy only Korea made phones. After I have collected all information, I finally decided which handset was worth buying. In this way, I bought [the Samsung] Note II.” Female owner, 19, SEC C, Yangon

28. 28 “Males work and have business so they carry the phone. But if the wife has a business she also has one. Today even youngsters and children have a mobile.” Female owner, 19, Yangon

29. However, men may still get priority in mobile ownership “In our view men are superior to the women, which means they have better luck than women. It might not be really that case but head of the man is more important than the rest of the family so they are treated with favor or respect.” Female owner, 26, SEC C, Yangon 29

30. Binary logistic regression used to model mobile ownership A binary logistic regression is a way of modeling the probability of an event when the event is a binary outcome, so adoption = 1 (yes) or 0 (no). Coefficient in logistic regression cannot be directly interpreted  Odds Ratio is calculated from it. – The ‘Odds’ is directly related to (but not the same as) the probability of something happening. – Odds = probability of adoption / probability of not adopting Odds ratio implies for each unit increment of the independent variable, the odds of mobile ownership service changes by a percentage of (odds ratio – 1) 30

31. 31 Being a woman in Myanmar reduces odds of owning a mobile by 42% (After accounting for education, employment status etc.) Source: LIRNEasia Baseline Survey (2015) Coefficient ( β ) Odds Ratio Change in Odds Ratio due to 1 unit increase in variable p-value Gender (0=male; 1=female)-0.5360.585-420.00 Secondary education being the highest obtained (0=no, 1=yes)0.4381.55550.00 Tertiary education being the highest obtained (0=no, 1=yes)1.5644.7773780.00 Having television at home (0=no, 1=yes)0.611.84840.00 Having electricity at home (0=no, 1=yes)0.3421.407410.00 Employment status (0=not employed; 1=employed)0.6081.836840.00 Perceived economic impact of mobile (scalar variable: 1-5)0.0671.0770.25 Perceived knowledge impact of mobile (scalar variable: 1-5)0.1221.13130.04 Perceived emotional impact of mobile (scalar variable: 1-5)0.2351.265270.00 Proportion of family members having mobile (scalar variable: 1-10)0.3041.355360.00 Proportion of friends having mobile (scalar variable: 1-10)0.0471.04850.00 Monthly household expenditure (MMK)0.1151.122120.01 Age of respondent (no. of years)-0.0050.995-0.50.09 Constant-3.4390.032-970.00

32. Visually, this means… 32 Education, Employment and Income are key factors influence mobile ownership

33. Visually, this means… 33 Being a woman in Myanmar reduces the odds of mobile ownership by 42%, after other factors are controlled