IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/indgen/v28y2021i1p29-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Mobile Phone Use Invading Multiple Boundaries? A Study of Rural Illiterate Women in India

Author

Listed:
  • Chhavi Garg

Abstract

Blurring various boundaries of age, place of residence (urban/rural) and sociocultural–economic factors, the mobile phone has become an integral part of everyday life of almost everyone in this world. Through the identification of differences in accessibility and use of technology including the mobile phone, a digital divide is seen to be emerging, and what is of great concern is the emergence of a digital gender divide. The article is based on a study of mobile phone use by rural illiterate women in India, exploring whether three different parameters, namely, place of residence (rural or urban), gender and illiteracy, are hindering the use of the mobile phone or not. Nearly 85 per cent of the rural illiterate women studied were found to be using a mobile phone without necessarily owning it. It was their quickest means of communication and receiving information. A further improvement such as a community radio through which interaction with the outside world can be facilitated should be encouraged.

Suggested Citation

  • Chhavi Garg, 2021. "Is Mobile Phone Use Invading Multiple Boundaries? A Study of Rural Illiterate Women in India," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 29-45, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:indgen:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:29-45
    DOI: 10.1177/0971521520974845
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0971521520974845
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0971521520974845?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can Mobile Phones Improve Gender Equality and Nutrition? Panel Data Evidence from Farm Households in Uganda," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 256215, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    2. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 95-103.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sikhulumile Sinyolo & Catherine Ndinda & Conrad Murendo & Sithembile A. Sinyolo & Mudzunga Neluheni, 2020. "Access to Information Technologies and Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables in South Africa: Evidence from Nationally Representative Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Jian Liu & Yanjun Ren & Thomas Glauben, 2021. "The effect of income inequality on nutritional outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 125-143, October.
    3. Lang Wang & Yuping Chen & Shijun Ding, 2022. "Examining the Impact of Digital Finance on Farmer Consumption Inequality in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Chrisendo, Daniel & Siregar, Hermanto & Qaim, Matin, 2022. "Oil palm cultivation improves living standards and human capital formation in smallholder farm households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Xu Tian & Xianhui Geng, 2020. "Rethinking Food Production: Nexus of Mobile Phones and Production Cost Minimization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Evans, Olaniyi, 2018. "Digital Agriculture: Mobile Phones, Internet & Agricultural Development in Africa," MPRA Paper 90359, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Ningan Yang & Yawen Ding & Shi Min & Junfei Bai, 2022. "Does rubber expansion hinder the migration of rural labor? Evidence from southwest China?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 1108-1131, May.
    8. Amy Quandt & Jonathan D Salerno & Jason C Neff & Timothy D Baird & Jeffrey E Herrick & J Terrence McCabe & Emilie Xu & Joel Hartter, 2020. "Mobile phone use is associated with higher smallholder agricultural productivity in Tanzania, East Africa," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, August.
    9. Shen, Jiexi & Zhu, Zhanguo & Qaim, Matin & Fan, Shenggen & Tian, Xu, 2023. "E-commerce improves dietary quality of rural households in China," Discussion Papers 335226, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    10. Ameen, Nisreen & Shah, Mahmood Hussain & Sims, Julian & Choudrie, Jyoti & Willis, Robert, 2020. "Are there peas in a pod when considering mobile phone and mobile applications use: A quantitative study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Campenhout, Bjorn Van, 2021. "ICTs to Address Information Inefficiencies in Food Supply Chains," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315054, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Peng Nie & Wanglin Ma & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "The relationship between smartphone use and subjective well-being in rural China," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 983-1009, December.
    13. Ma, W. & Grafton, Q. & Renwick, A., 2018. "Gender and Income Effects of Smartphone Use: The Case of Rural China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277310, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Ting Jin & Lei Li, 2022. "Does Smartphone Use Improve the Dietary Diversity of Rural Residents? Evidence from Household Survey Data from 5 Provinces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-16, September.
    15. Ren, Yanjun & Li, Hui & Wang, Xiaobing, 2019. "Family income and nutrition-related health: Evidence from food consumption in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 58-76.
    16. Zheng, Xuyuan & Lu, Haiyang, 2021. "Does ICT change household decision-making power of the left-behind women? A Case from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    17. Hina Amber & Bezawit Beyene Chichaibelu, 2023. "Narrowing the gender digital divide in Pakistan: Mobile phone ownership and female labor force participation," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1354-1382, August.
    18. Jiexi Shen & Zhanguo Zhu & Matin Qaim & Shenggen Fan & Xu Tian, 2023. "E‐commerce improves dietary quality of rural households in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(S1), pages 1495-1511, December.
    19. Aseres Mamo Eshetie & Eunice Matafwali & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Jie Li & Aijun Liu, 2022. "Nexus of Cash Crop Production Using Improved Varieties and Household Food Security," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(4), pages 1803-1830, August.
    20. David Israel Contreras-Medina & Luis Miguel Contreras-Medina & Joaliné Pardo-Nuñez & Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas & Carlos Mario Rodriguez-Peralta, 2020. "Roadmapping as a Driver for Knowledge Creation: A Proposal for Improving Sustainable Practices in the Coffee Supply Chain from Chiapas, Mexico, Using Emerging Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:indgen:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:29-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.