Is it safe to assume that there are more women using Facebook than men? Yes that’s true when you are thinking entire world, but same does not go for India. Reportedly, only 24 % of the Facebook users in India are females.
“On average, women account for 38 per cent of Facebook’s users around APAC (Asia pacific) — a figure that is already lower than it should be — but in India, women account for just 24 per cent of the country’s users,” said the report by Britain-based consultancy We Are Social.
“In Bangladesh that figure is just 23 per cent, and in Pakistan, it’s even lower, at barely 22 per cent,” the report noted.
New Zealand stood at the top of the list with 59% of Facebook users being women. Hong Kong and Macau at 54 % each completed the top three in the list.
According to records, the social media penetration level in India shot up by an impressive 31% by March 2015. With smartphone brands offering low-cost devices in the market, India surpassed the US to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Despite this conveniences, women lag behind men in adapting to the devices.
“One potential reason why social media use remains so low in South Asia is the exceptional disparity in access between men and women,” the report by We Are Social said.
“This iniquity of access between men and women may explain part of the reason why digital connectivity levels are so low across South Asia,” it added.
“Facebook reports its user figures based on active user accounts, not devices used, so their data is unlikely to be skewed by issues such as shared computers or mobile handsets. As a result, we can only assume that too few women have access to social media in these countries,” it further added.
