Mobile Phones and Attitudes Towards Women’s Participation in Politics: Evidence from Africa
This study explores the relationship between technology adoption and attitudes towards gender equality in political representation by relying on diffusion theories coupled with frameworks of ideational change, social interaction, and world society. We examine whether the use of mobile phones shapes gender attitudes towards women’s participation in politics by making it more widely accepted that women hold institutional roles. We do so by using micro-level data from the AfroBarometer, covering 36 African countries and adopting a multilevel modeling approach. Our results suggest that regular use of mobile phones is associated with more positive attitudes towards women’s participation in politics. The significant relationship – robust to the use of instrumental variable (IV) techniques – is observed only among women. This finding strengthens the idea that technology adoption on the part of women, by improving connectivity and expanding access to information, may be a successful lever to raise women’s status and promote societal well-being, ultimately contributing to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 that seeks to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Concurrently, the lack of a significant relationship for men highlights an important yet often neglected issue: policies aimed at changing gender attitudes are often targeted towards women, but men’s attitudes can be stickier than women’s, thus requiring further attention.