According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) signed an agreement with the GSM Association to close the digital gender gap in the country.
At the Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona, the authority signed a cooperation agreement with the telecommunications service provider.
According to the agreement, the GSMA will assist PTA by sharing data/insights/expertise in identifying target-oriented projects to close the digital gender gap. PTA stated that these initiatives would include digital financial inclusion, accessibility, affordability, online security awareness, and digital skills by females in both rural and urban areas.
The organization will assist PTA in developing SMS/WhatsApp/IVR-based consumer surveys to collect authentic gender-disaggregated data on various gender disparities such as SIM and device ownership, internet, social media usage, and financial access gap.
In addition, the company will share practises, guidelines, and data indicators on gender inclusion in ICTs with PTA. Furthermore, the GSMA will provide a mobile internet skills training toolkit (MISTT) in Urdu, a collection of resources to promote digital literacy and assist people in using the internet safely on their mobile devices.
The collaboration was described by PTA as an initiative to bridge Pakistan’s digital gender divide.
To read our blog on “PTA and Huawei Pakistan sign MoU to Promote Gender Inclusion and Women Empowerment,” click here.
