Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany.
Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany; Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn, Germany.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 Jul;305:115074. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115074. Epub 2022 May 26.
Women's economic and social empowerment is facilitated by their ability to move around independently and safely. However, in many developing countries women's physical mobility is restricted by social norms, structural impediments related to poor quality of roads and transport systems, and security issues. Restrictions on female physical mobility and low levels of empowerment can also have negative implications for women's access to healthcare services. Mobile phones could help connect women to information and social networks and thus also strengthen their bargaining power within the household. Here, we use nationally representative data from 39,523 women in India collected in 2011-12 to analyse associations between women's use of mobile phones and selected indicators of female autonomy and empowerment. Results indicate that women's mobile phone use is positively associated with their physical mobility range and use of non-surgical contraceptives, whereas it is negatively associated with surgical contraceptive methods. We also analyse to what extent these associations are influenced by other socioeconomic and cultural factors. Our findings suggest that mobile phones can play an important positive role for women's empowerment in India.
妇女的经济和社会赋权得益于其独立、安全出行的能力。然而，在许多发展中国家，妇女的身体活动受到社会规范、道路和交通系统质量差等结构性障碍以及安全问题的限制。对女性身体活动的限制和赋权程度低，也可能对妇女获得医疗保健服务产生负面影响。移动电话可以帮助妇女获得信息和社交网络，从而增强她们在家庭中的议价能力。在这里，我们使用了 2011-2012 年在印度收集的 39523 名女性的全国代表性数据，分析了女性使用手机与女性自主性和赋权的一些特定指标之间的关联。结果表明，女性使用手机与她们的身体活动范围和使用非手术避孕方法呈正相关，而与手术避孕方法呈负相关。我们还分析了这些关联在多大程度上受到其他社会经济和文化因素的影响。我们的研究结果表明，移动电话在印度可以为妇女赋权发挥重要的积极作用。
