household members over their own. They are clearly involved in the financial decision to purchase a mobile phone for the family. Yet once a mobile phone is purchased, the woman may not necessarily have access to that phone all the time. This is because the phone will ‘travel’ with the person who needs it the most – for example a daughter who works outside the home and returns late at night (so a phone providing security), or a son working in a different city. Since activities outside the home are more often undertaken by men, this mobile access and usage gap is exacerbated. As such, getting a second mobile phone into the household (which has a higher likelihood of staying inside the household) seems key to increasing women’s access and usage. The top two reasons among women for not owning a mobile phone (lack of affordability or need) are connected. ‘Not needing’ a mobile is relative to the cost-benefit trade-off of purchasing an additional phone for the household. Many women without a mobile phone said that they don’t ‘need’ one because they do not leave the house for work or studies. Though many would like to have their own mobile, they felt that even if they did buy one, the top-ups would be unaffordable because they are not earning (or earning a lot less than the male household members). The clear preference for particular high-end brands of smartphones was also a factor, since many women were willing to delay the purchase until they could afford a particular brand. The low perceived benefits also play a role. Many women do not see spending on mobiles as a priority compared to other more pressing needs of the household, partly as a result of having limited experience of mobile phones. Even among women who already use or own a mobile, many did not possess the skills or knowledge to expand their current use to potentially valuable data services and usually relied on others (primarily men, either relatives or in phone shops) for instruction. On the rare occasions where women were using the mobile Internet, for example Facebook, we saw relatively ‘unsophisticated’ use. Often it was the local retail shop owner who created the account (including assigning the password and user name), and pre-subscribed the account to follow Myanmar celebrities or certain information sources. The user then simply followed what was on the news feed. In Myanmar, closing the mobile gender gap and realizing the associated social and commercial benefits will require stakeholders to focus on the two main barriers: improving affordability and technical literacy, particularly for mobile Internet. With regards to mobile data services, many female and male qualitative respondents seemed to be stuck in the basic mobile literacy stage, needing help even to make a call, especially rural respondents. While it was apparent that many mobile owners and non-owners were interested to learn about and use the Internet, most did not know how to do it (even smartphone owners). One issue was that many female owners were not present at the time of purchase and did not get an ‘introduction’ to the mobile at the shop (as men tend to do), so they relied on relatives and friends who are already owners. Many (including female non-owners) feared they could damage the phone when experimenting with it. This concern has limited their exploration of phone functionalities and internet possibilities. Language was another barrier that restricted trial and investigation. Respondents who knew English were better educated and had no usage barriers. Those who used Internet/data services often require help to do so, and were not aware of privacy settings, how to evaluate the authenticity of posts, etc. This being said, Smartphone owners in Yangon have a broader/richer understanding and internet usage patterns. For them, the internet is not just a place to make friends and chat, but also to search for information. Many rural respondents had not heard of mobile apps or admitted they did not understand what they were. The results are given in greater detail in the resulting publication, Zainudeen, A. & Galpaya, H. (2015) Mobile phones, internet & gender in Myanmar. GSMA available at http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programme/connected-women/mobile-phones-internet-andgender-in-myanmar/. The report can also be found in Annex 2