Mobile Phones, Off‐Farm Income, and Employment of Rural Women: Evidence From Bangladesh

A persistent disparity has been observed in the social and economic development of women, particularly evident in South Asia's lower female labor force participation. This study investigates how mobile phone ownership helps overcome this challenge. Using an instrumental variable approach and nationally representative household panel data from rural Bangladesh, this study finds robust evidence that the women's mobile phone ownership significantly increases their off‐farm income. The income increase can be attributed to an enhancement in their probability of off‐farm employment. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that the benefits of mobile phone ownership are distributed similarly across age, wealth, and remoteness to towns. However, educated women can better leverage mobile phone ownership for higher off‐farm income via salaried off‐farm employment. The findings underscore that developing economies should promote the digital accessibility and digital literacy of disadvantaged groups to improve their well‐being.