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In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

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Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#71
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It means that the value of Harley Davidson in India in US$ would be equivalent in the US when the price is 21.3x You lost me here. Can you elaborate on this more please? When it came to data comparisons you literally did multiply 21.3 with 9 cents and arrived at the value of 1.91$ per GB. So how is your comparing data costs using PPP as a normalizing factor fine but not fine when it comes to me comparing cost of ma…

Let me once again repeat what I have said and please take some time to listen and understand it * You can not compare goods across two countries by simply taking the exchange rate, you need to normalise to account for different factors like disposable income * I took PPP as the normalisation metric. It is not perfect but is meant for this purpose. * If you are not happy with PPP as a normalisation metric, you can cho…

> * You can not compare goods across two countries by simply taking the exchange rate, you need to normalise to account for different factors like disposable income

This is where you are wrong. You have to take exchange rate when calculating PPP. Which is what I have been trying to explain to you. You are completely skipping exchange rate, which is why you are getting an inflated figure of 1.91$ per GB.

You should be calculating it this way:

Exchange rate: 73.17 INR = 1 USD Now 9 cents is, 0.09 USD = 0.09 * 73.17 = 6.58 INR.

Since PPP is 21.3, 6.58 INR would be 6.58 / 21.3 = 0.3 USD

So 9 cents in India is equal to 30 cents in USA. Now, that is 30 cents per GB and not 1.91$ per GB.

Remember that PPP is INR/USD and not USD/USD.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#72

India's female labor participation rate is 20%. In China, it's 60%. Smartphones can help bridge that gap a bit but real progress will probably come from creating safe, well-paying jobs.

It's more than that. I know many women who quit their well-paying jobs because societally in the US we have not fully socialized child rearing in a way that China has.

e.g.: Our infrastructure and attitudes about kids transport is in dire need of refactoring.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#73

India's female labor participation rate is 20%. In China, it's 60%. Smartphones can help bridge that gap a bit but real progress will probably come from creating safe, well-paying jobs.

Seems unlikely this 20% number implies that 80% of women are sitting at home drinking tea & looking after kids.

Where is it from? Is this formal sector employment?

IIRC the informal labor market is something like 80% of the country in total. Lots of people work in ways that are difficult to gather statistics about.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#74

India's female labor participation rate is 20%. In China, it's 60%. Smartphones can help bridge that gap a bit but real progress will probably come from creating safe, well-paying jobs.

That’s because you are not counting housekeeping and child rearing as essential labor which is inaccurate.

Labor participation would be 99% in all countries. What’s your point?

The 20% to 60% is meant to demonstrate female inequality in India, because most of them are working at home for zero pay and low social status. Whereas in more developed countries, women get paid to work in industries.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#75
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any particular reason why you are assuming that housekeeping and child rearing should be the exclusive responsibility of women? I'm struggling to see any honest point in this comment.

I said saying only 20% of women are involved in labor in India is incorrect. That number is much much higher if you take those into account.

You’re wrong. Every country would have 99% labor participation rate if you count those. It’s not meaningful

The fact is only 20% of women are not getting paid for their labor. It’s a sign of huge lack of development progress

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#76
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me once again repeat what I have said and please take some time to listen and understand it * You can not compare goods across two countries by simply taking the exchange rate, you need to normalise to account for different factors like disposable income * I took PPP as the normalisation metric. It is not perfect but is meant for this purpose. * If you are not happy with PPP as a normalisation metric, you can cho…

> * You can not compare goods across two countries by simply taking the exchange rate, you need to normalise to account for different factors like disposable income This is where you are wrong. You have to take exchange rate when calculating PPP. Which is what I have been trying to explain to you. You are completely skipping exchange rate, which is why you are getting an inflated figure of 1.91$ per GB. You should be…

> So 9 cents in India is equal to 30 cents in USA. Now, that is 30 cents per GB and not 1.91$ per GB.

I couldn't get this from your earlier comments. I get it now.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#77
post #72

India's female labor participation rate is 20%. In China, it's 60%. Smartphones can help bridge that gap a bit but real progress will probably come from creating safe, well-paying jobs.

It's more than that. I know many women who quit their well-paying jobs because societally in the US we have not fully socialized child rearing in a way that China has. e.g.: Our infrastructure and attitudes about kids transport is in dire need of refactoring.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. What about women who prefer to see their kids grow up rather than endlessly chase paychecks?

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#78
post #73

India's female labor participation rate is 20%. In China, it's 60%. Smartphones can help bridge that gap a bit but real progress will probably come from creating safe, well-paying jobs.

Seems unlikely this 20% number implies that 80% of women are sitting at home drinking tea & looking after kids. Where is it from? Is this formal sector employment? IIRC the informal labor market is something like 80% of the country in total. Lots of people work in ways that are difficult to gather statistics about.

If you’ve visited India, you wouldn’t be surprised. Most women do stay home and take care of kids

And it’s really hard work btw, cooking and looking after the house and kids. They’re definitely not just “sitting home and drinking tea.”

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#79
post #46

If data can be $0.09/GB in India, why does it cost so much more here in the USA?

more expensive inputs to construct and maintain cell networks in the USA. If you look at Indian telcos and US telcos, they have similar profit margins.

Re: In India, smartphones and cheap data are giving women a voice

#80
post #9

Yeah, Data is cheap and smartphones are plenty. Indians are voracious consumers of content and healthy competition has reduced prices to absurdly low levels. I'm in an urban area, with connection from one of the biggest providers. It costs me about 9 USD a month for unlimited data (I mean, about 2 GB a day, BUT, with carry forward, so I have about 250 GB of data to use in my account), unlimited calls and sms. I stopp…

As someone who regularly consumes 1.2TB or more of data a month I really wish for uncapped affordable internet plans. Unfortunately I'm in the US and outside of a major city.
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