India's Street Gender Gap: Implications for Apple and Retail

Women are largely absent from city streets in India, a new study finds. Using GPS-tracked cameras and street audits across roughly 900 kilometers of roads in greater Mumbai, researchers Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra and Gaurav Sood counted 23,000-plus visible people in 4,000 street images. Women made up 16.4% of visible people in Mumbai and 14.7% in Navi Mumbai – far below their share of the population.

The pedestrian sex ratios work out to 239 women per 1,000 men in Mumbai and 223 in Navi Mumbai. That implies 71% and 76% of the women expected from residential demographics are missing from the streets. The gap holds across road types. Private mobility does not close it: women's share on two-wheelers is even lower, at 8.4% and 5.7%.

Alice Evans, who highlighted the paper, also points to related work showing that the median married woman in India leaves home for 30 minutes a day. On a typical day, 45% of married women do not leave home at all.

For foreign consumer companies expanding into India, these numbers matter. A large share of potential female customers are not in shops, not commuting, not spending beyond what can be done from home. That caps the addressable market for retail, dining, and entertainment. It also affects labor supply: if women are not moving freely, factories and offices have a smaller hiring pool.

Apple (AAPL) is deepening its retail presence in India, with two flagship stores open and more planned. The company's strategy depends on foot traffic, brand visibility, and a growing middle class that includes women as both consumers and employees. The mobility data suggests that transformation has a long way to run.

The study offers the first large-scale measurement of a pattern self-reported surveys miss. The question for investors is how quickly these constraints ease. Government programs promoting women's safety and public transport access could unlock economic participation. For now, the data gives a baseline: roughly three in four working-age women are not visible on the streets of Mumbai, a city often portrayed as India's most progressive.