Growing inequality in India’s digital space: report

THE percentage of men owning phones is as high as 61 percent while only

31 percent of women-owned phones in 2021, according to a new report, which claimed that India's growing inequalities based on caste, religion, gender, class, and geographic location are being worryingly replicated in the digital space.

Oxfam India's latest India Inequality Report 2022: Digital Divide' report said on Monday (5) that the reach of digital technologies remains limited to largely male, urban, upper-caste, and upper-class households and individuals.

Eight percent of the general caste have a computer or a laptop whereas less than 1 percent of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 2 per cent of the Scheduled Castes (SC) have it. As per the Mobile Gender Gap report by GSMA, women are less likely to use mobile internet by 33 percent when compared to men in 2021, it said.

The report said the percentage of men owning phones is as high as 61 percent while only 31 percent of women-owned phones in 2021.

The report analyses primary data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy's (CMIE) household survey from January 2018 to December 2021.