Divorced and separated women lead in phone ownership among females

The Kenya Housing Survey 2023/24 shows that the gender digital divide gap in Kenya is yet to be closed, as phone ownership and internet use among males is higher than in females. Whereas 64.6% of phone owners are males, 48.6 are males. 

According to the survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) mobile phone sharing is more common among women. 

The survey further details mobile phone ownership by marital status. Here, ownership was found to be common in monogamous marriages (81.9%), where 91.6% of men owned phones compared to 86.5% of females. 

In women, the phone ownership is higher among those that are divorced or separated. The Kenya Housing Survey 2023/24 shows that 86.5% of women in monogamous marriages own phones, 71.1% in polygamous marriages have the devices. 

This ownership was found to be higher among separated women (89.5%), followed by divorced women (87.8%). The ownership by marital status also shows 73.3% of widowed women have their own phones, compared to 57.8 of those that have never been married. 

The same was observed in mobile phone use, where separated and divorced women were found to be likely to use phones compared to their counterparts in monogamous or polygamous marriages, and those that are widowed or single. Notably, the phone usage among separated and divorced women was even higher than in polygamous men. 

Mobile phone sharing was found to be higher in men and women that have never been married (12.7%). This was followed by divorcees (7.2%) persons in polygamous marriages (7.2%), widowed persons (6%) and the least sharing (4%) was in people in monogamous marriages. 

“This trend underscores the relationship between marital status and digital inclusion, with never-married and separated individuals showing the greatest dependency on shared phones,” the Kenya Housing Survey 2023/24 states.

KNBS also found that mobile phone ownership was more common among children aged 10–14 years (24.3%), followed by those aged 5–9 years (18.0%) and 15–24 years (14.9%). 12.2% of children between 3-4 years shared phones. 

The survey also observes high mobile phone usage in Nyandarua (86.1%) , Nairobi (81.3%) and Taita Taveta (80.4%). Usage was lowest in Turkana, Tana River and Narok counties.