8m women come online in 2024 as digital gender divide narrows
The country recorded a significant rise in mobile internet usage among women in 2024, as the gender gap in mobile internet adoption narrowed from 38 per cent to 25pc, according to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025 released on Wednesday. This means that women in Pakistan are now 25pc less likely than men to use mobile internet — an improvement from previous years. In contrast, the gender gap across South Asia remained largely unchanged at 32pc, with an estimated 330 million women in the region still not using mobile internet. Pakistan also outperformed neighbouring countries in women’s mobile internet adoption, with 45pc of women using mobile internet, compared to 39pc in India and 26pc in Bangladesh. This marks a notable increase from 33pc in 2023 — a 12-percentage point rise — primarily driven by adoption among rural women, the report noted.