Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has collaborated with GSM Association to reduce digital gender gap in Pakistan. A cooperation agreement was signed between the two organizations at the Mobile World Congress 2022, currently being held in Barcelona.
Through this collaboration, GSMA will facilitate PTA by sharing data/insights/expertise in identifying target-oriented projects to reduce digital gender gap. These will include initiatives related to digital financial inclusion, accessibility, affordability, online security awareness and digital skills by females in both rural and urban areas.
GSMA will also support PTA in designing SMS/WhatsApp/IVR based consumer surveys. Through these surveys, an authentic gender disaggregated data will be captured by PTA on various gender disparity areas such as: SIM & device ownership, internet, social media usage and financial access gap.
GSMA will also share with PTA the best practices/guidelines and internationally recognized data indicators on gender inclusion in ICTs. In addition, GSMA will be providing Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit (MISTT) in Urdu language, a set of resources to promote digital literacy, and help people use the internet more safely on their mobile. The collaboration will serve as an initiative for bridging the digital gender divide in Pakistan.