Technology: Friend or Foe for Women of Myanmar These escalating nationwide prohibitions have a serious effect on people’s access to accurate and trustworthy information, and life-saving services (MIP, 2021)5. “Universal internet access is critical for everyone to attain information online, and it is a matter of life and death for conflict-affected people. Since the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar has endured frequent near-total internet shutdowns – including intermittent and nightly communication blockages. The junta imposed more regional internet shutdowns, particularly in areas where active, strong anti-coup resistance is ongoing, rather than in major cities. In the years following the coup, at least 40 townships are currently affected by communications blackouts and there have been nearly 50 to 60 incidents.” (KII_08, a woman digital rights activist and privacy advocate) 3.1.1. Devices and telecommunications infrastructure The survey found that 93.14% of the respondents use mobile phones, while 48.57% of them have access to personal computers. There are two prevalent combinations of devices respondents use to access the internet: 47% of the respondents exclusively use their mobile phones where another 39% of the respondents use both mobile phones and personal computers. We also found that 5% of the respondents use the internet with all three devices surveyed (mobile phone, computer and tablet), 1% with both mobile phone and tablet, 3% exclusively with computer, 1% with both computer and tablet, 1% exclusively with tablet, 2% with a family-owned mobile phone and 1% with a family-owned computer. 5 Here access refers to the ability to make use of the technology as well as the information and knowledge it provides, while control refers to the ability to decide who can have access to them and how they are used. 17