MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR Annex 2: Respondent portraits Why and how did she get her mobile phone? RESPONDENT 1 AGE 25 LOCATION YANGON (URBAN) OCCUPATION SALESPERSON AT A CLOTHING STORE MOBILE OWNERSHIP STATUS OWNER As a married person, I need to be independent, and be financially independent. Then we could have a happy family life without having to worry too much about livelihoods. This is critically important to me. Twenty-five year old Respondent 1 is a working mother of one. She is the eldest daughter in her family. She works full time as part of the sales staff at a clothing shop close to her house. She needs to communicate with her husband as she is out of the house all day. She uses her mobile phone for communication and entertainment. Her household Respondent 1’s husband is a taxi driver and is the main income earner of their household. Even though she is married and has one child, she cannot support herself financially, and is still dependent on her parents. She eats at her parents’ house and spends much of her time there. She, her husband, and daughter sleep at her in-laws’ house. She has four other family members: her parents, elder brother, younger sister, in addition to herself. Her monthly salary is about USD 85 and her husband earns around USD 300. Challenges and difficulties “There are many difficulties for a woman. For example, if I want to apply for a job it is more difficult now than when I was single. Because I am married, they refused to employ me. With some positions which I badly wanted, I had to lie to them and say that I am single. Then the employer found out so I had to leave the job.” She faces some challenges when using her mobile for Facebook, Viber, and the internet. She uses her brother’s Facebook account and she needs her sister’s assistance to share files on Zapya. Both her siblings are quite busy with their own activities, so neither of them are able to patiently explain how to use her phone. Her mobile is not very good quality and has very limited memory. She wants to have a new handset with a higher storage capacity. Respondent 1 wanted to be able to keep in touch with all her family members and didn’t want to be left out. “Even though I was married, I did not have any income at the time. So I asked my mother to buy me a phone. She bought me what she could afford, which was USD 200.” Her mother is the main decision-maker for financial matters in the household. She decided to get one mobile phone for the whole family even though it was too expensive for them. She paid about USD 1,800 for their first mobile which is used by her father. Her mother bought a USD 500 mobile for herself, her elder son, and younger daughter. Then she asked her mother to get her a mobile phone, which she bought for USD 200. She was the last member of her family to get a phone. Her first SIM was a CDMA worth approximately USD 200. However, it was resold by her mother and she got a SIM card from her sister which she obtained for USD 1.50, from MEC through the lottery. Respondent 1 also received her sister’s old handset. Mobile and internet usage Respondent 1 mainly uses her mobile phone at work. She has more free time at work than she does at home. She calls her husband on a daily basis. She spends around MMK 10,000–15,000 (approximately USD 10–15) per month on top-ups. She plays simple games such as Animal Feeding. Even when she wants to do more with her phone, the handset cannot accommodate the larger storage requirement. Respondent 1 uses the internet for: • Viber (to call people she knows) • Facebook (to see pictures that have been uploaded, search for news on celebrities, current news, etc.) • Watching videos She doesn’t know how to search the internet or upload and share content. What she thinks of owning a mobile phone “Once I was at the hospital with my daughter when she was sick. I did not have a mobile at the time. When I needed to get something, I could not contact anyone. I could not go out to make a call as I could not leave my daughter alone. I tried to borrow a phone from others to make a call, but no one wanted to share their mobile phone. I was really panicking so I thought to myself that I should have a mobile of my own.” “When some of my friends found better jobs, they called and told me about them so I could apply. Otherwise I would have missed this opportunity.” “I became more knowledgeable than I was before having a mobile and using the internet. In the past, I knew nothing as I was at home all the time and did not get a chance to go out and socialize.” “Schoolchildren should not use mobile phones, because they are still young. But many already have mobile phones so they find boyfriends online and the parents remain unaware about these developments.” “If I ask them, they would help me, but with comments such as, “Oh, my gosh! You don’t even know that! Why? … This is very easy but you don’t know yet.” I don’t want to receive such comments from them.” “I am worried about breaking the phone because if it is broken, I have to take it to the shop and repair it. I need to spend money on repairs; and I cannot afford that.” She cannot afford to buy a new handset (i.e. a smartphone) because of her financial difficulties. Her husband encouraged her to use an old one instead of spending money on a new handset. 76 77