Family objections keep Pakistan women away from cell phones

Cultural barriers in Pakistan hamper a majority of women’s access to cell phones, leaving them disconnected from the digital world, a recent World Bank report has said.

The Global Findex Database 2025 found that 40% of women who do not own a mobile phone in Pakistan cited family disapproval as the reason for not having one.

The data was collected from nationally representative face-to-face interviews conducted in 2024.

“It is important to note as well that counter to expectations about gender norms, family or community disapproval is among the least commonly cited barriers, and naming it as a barrier is not generally more prevalent among women than among men,” the report said.

Pakistan has the widest gender gap in mobile ownership in the world, with women 65 percentage points behind men.

The report connected these findings to financial inclusion in Pakistan, where a deep gender divide is visible. It found that the gender gap in account ownership in Pakistan stands at 30 percentage points, among the largest worldwide, and four times the global average

With account ownership a cornerstone of financial access, this gap leaves millions of women excluded from basic tools to save, receive payments, and manage money, the report said.