Women's digital behavior patterns

Today is #InternationalWomensDay, a day to not only celebrate women’s lives and their enormous contributions to our world, but also to take stock of persistent gender inequality and commit to tackling the systems and structures that hold women back. Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Intuit and The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law project have just released ground-breaking new research that explores the challenges women entrepreneurs in low and middle income countries currently face and offers actionable recommendations. Our report, “Empowered or Undermined? Women Entrepreneurs and the Digital Economy”, has a focus on with women’s digital inclusion, use of online tools—such as social media, AI, e-commerce and Mobile Money—and digital technology’s broader implications for their businesses. For me, one of the most pertinent and shocking issues is that of online gender-based violence (#GBV) and its devastating impacts on women entrepreneurs. This form of abuse, which includes harassment, stalking and exploitation, is not only damaging to women’s wellbeing, it also affects their ability to participate in the digital economy. This disadvantages their businesses and impacts their livelihoods and freedoms. Drawing on contributions from nearly 3,000 women entrepreneurs, our report reveals crucial insights on their experiences with GBV, both online and in person:  ⭕ 57% report having personally experienced at least one form of GBV over social media. ⭕ 16% report safety and security concerns as a key barrier to mobile internet, illustrating the destructive potential that harassment holds to drive women offline. ⭕ 21% fear harassment from male customers, both online and offline. ⭕ 77% take proactive safety measures, such as screening customers online before meeting them in person or relying on male relatives for protection. ⭕ To protect themselves, 36% avoid using their real names online and 59% avoid posting videos. Yet, online platforms are critical tools for growth for many women entrepreneurs: 89% of respondents use social media daily for business or personal use, and 63% cited their increased use of digital tools in 2024 as a key business success. It is therefore unacceptable that women experience GBV in online spaces used for business. This International Women's Day, we must commit to combatting violence against women and creating a safer, more gender equal business world where women can realise their full potential. We’re calling for:  📢 Governments to introduce stronger legal protections against online and offline GBV.  📢 Tech companies to make digital spaces safer for women entrepreneurs. 📢 NGOs to develop digital safety training with experts, local organisations, and women entrepreneurs to support them to use digital platforms safely.  Read the report for more insights and recommendations, and join us to #AccelerateAction for women business owners: https://lnkd.in/eJYwaJ-a

UNCDF Report Bridging the Digital Divide: Gender Insights on Remittance Access, Usage, and Financial Health This gender synthesis report investigates migrant and family experiences with international remittance services, emphasizing digital channels and their impact on underserved populations, particularly women, across Africa and Asia. The findings indicate that (1) Digital remittances need to better reach underserved populations, particularly women. (2) Barriers such as digital literacy, high costs, and trust issues prevent effective use of digital remittances by women. (3) Women prioritize smaller transactions for healthcare and education, while men focus on larger business investments. (4) Women report lower financial health than men, despite higher indices for digital remittance users overall.

Financial services consumers are among the most digitally active, yet the least understood. There’s always been deep investment in product and tech. But far less in decoding how consumers actually discover, evaluate, and adopt financial products in a digital-first world. Meta in partnership with Ipsos set out to understand that with one of the most comprehensive studies in recent times on how Indians navigate financial services online. Across insurance, lending, banking, and investment, this research maps the real consumer journey, with a lens on platforms, content, influencers, and behaviors. Here are a few insights that stood out for me: • Digital First Purchase Journeys 6 out of 8 touchpoints in the consumer journey are digital. Half of those happen on Meta platforms. • New Financial Literacy Codes 57% use Reels and 53% use Facebook video to make financial choices • Creators' Choice is Consumer Choice Content creators now fuel discovery for financial products as well as aid evaluation, 67% trust them for advice. • Women Drive Financial Decisions Women are leading engagement with more time on Instagram & WhatsApp, and 80% say they make financial decisions independently. • Conversational Marketing Fuels Purchase WhatsApp is more than chat, it powers discovery (44%), evaluation (50%) and purchase (48%). The full report is attached in the first comment. Worth a read if you’re building for this space. With Shweta B., Raveesh Bhatnagar, Manya Joshi, Shalaka Pawar, Jerrin Joy, Rajat Jadhav And Kamayani Singh, Amrita Ray Chaku, Devendranath Bangi, Mahima Gandhi, Gaurav Agrawal, Ambika Balasubramaniam, Prache Agarwaal, Chitra Chatterjee And Meta for Business #MetaForBusiness #FinancialServices #DigitalJourneys #MarketingResearch #ReelsForFinance

The "Communication Tools Survey 2025, conducted by the Tokyo University of Technology among 1,589 new students, reveals how digital habits are evolving—and how gender plays a key role. 📊🧑🤝🧑 📱 LINE remains the top communication tool (99.3% usage) 📸 #Instagram climbs to 2nd place, with rising male engagement narrowing the gender gap 👩🦰 #BeReal—an app encouraging spontaneous, unfiltered photos—sees high usage among female students (nearly 50%) 🎮 Male students heavily favor #Discord (57.1%) for both messaging and community interaction 🎥 #YouTube continues to dominate; #TVer, a Japanese online streaming service, steadily gains popularity 📲 #iPhone use remains high (78%) but is slightly declining in favor of other systems 💳 96.8% use digital payments; Japanese payment system #PayPay leads, growing 2.3× in three years 🛒 Online shopping is nearly universal, with ~90% of students participating These results show interesting gender patterns: female students are more active on visual and lifestyle platforms like BeReal, Pinterest, and TikTok, while male students favor interactive tools like Discord. Overall, the data points to a digitally fluent generation whose platform choices increasingly reflect their social identities, communication styles, and everyday routines. #SocialMediaTrends #YouthDigitalBehavior #BeReal #GenderDigitalDivide #CashlessSociety #ECommerce #JapaneseHigherEducation #InnovativeJapan https://lnkd.in/gzY7d9V9