Women in Information and Communication Technologies, Lucy Macdermot, ITU

While it may be true that the global expansion of the information and communication technology sector holds great potential for human development, not everyone has access to the ensuing benefits. This "digital divide" exists not only between the richer and the poorer countries, but also within those countries between the richer and poorer or between the educated and uneducated. The digital divide also exists between men and women. Apart from the USA where women account for 50% or more of Internet users, the percentage of women using the Internet is as low as 19% in South Africa, 13% in the Netherlands and 8 % in China. 1) Non-literacy is an obstacle to Internet access and women make up nearly two thirds of the world's non-literates. The percentage of women receiving technical training is very small and few women work in technological fields. ICTs can be used to redress this imbalance and to ensure that women participate and benefit from the information technology revolution as much as men. In addition, advances in information technology have created a global communication network that ignores national boundaries and that can have a strong impact on attitudes and behaviour. This presents an opportunity to correct negative stereotyping of women. "Everywhere the potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women. The continued projection of negative and degrading images of women in media communications - electronic, print, visual and audio - must be changed. 2)

The Beijing Platform for Action, which is a global policy document resulting from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, encouraged Nations and regions to create their own plans for Action for Women. In Ethiopia with respect to implementing the Platform for Action the Government committed to: "Ensure respect for the human rights of women, including equal economic, social and political rights; devise means of alleviating the problems of rural women; and change the traditional belief of women's inferiority and help women become decision makers at all levels of government." 3)

Advancing their skills, knowledge and access to information technology is a way of empowering women, whilst the non-hierarchical and interactive nature of these technologies presents them with a favourable environment in which to learn and exchange their views. To give an example of how this might work, particularly with respect to rural women, in June 1999 a project called "Sustaining Women-farmers in Ukraine" was started in co-operation with United Nations Development Program (UNDP), State Committee of Ukraine for Entrepreneurship Development and Council of Women-Farmers in Ukraine. This project aimed to improve the status of rural women in Ukraine and their quality of life. An information centres network was established for women-farmers and training sessions on IT were given. In describing the advantages of this project they say "Having gained access to the Internet, an ordinary village woman, who just yesterday tilled her plot of land and exchanged the harvested products for her neighbor's milk, can quickly turn into a modern businesswoman. Now, she can even imagine selling her products internationally." 4)
Another example is Grameen Phone's Village Phone program in Bangladesh, whereby a woman is able to borrow about 350 dollars from the Grameen Bank to buy a handset and can then sell telephone services to the villagers, using the resulting income to pay off her loan. This not only provides communication in rural areas, but is also a source of income for the woman providing the telephone service. There are over 4500 Village Phones of this kind in operation in Bangladesh.

ICT's can be adapted to suit different environments. The high rate of non-literacy among African women needs to be taken into account in ICT projects in this region. Scribes or voice-recognition software can be used for dictation at telecentres and ICTs can be used to support literacy education. ICTs can also be linked with other forms of media to overcome this problem. "In Sri Lanka and Mongolia, local populations have gained access to information on the Internet through community radio networks. The radio station uses facilitators to search the Internet for information sought by local communities, and broadcasts the information in their language." 5)

Other difficulties women have to overcome in using ICT's are lack of resources and lack of time. Women are often paid less than men, or may not have control over their income. Their traditional obligations may leave them with little free time. Using existing women's groups or networks for introducing ICT's is one way of overcoming this problem and of creating an encouraging environment in which women can feel confident about using new technologies.

The Beijing Platform for Action also emphasizes the importance of including women in the decision-making process "Women therefore need to be involved in decision-making regarding the development of the new technologies in order to participate fully in their growth and impact." 6) This will in turn help to rectify the negative image of women and stereotyping portrayed by the media.

Ensuring the full participation of women in ICTs is not only good for women. According to the World Bank "decreasing the disparities between sexes results in faster economic growth." 7) ICT's provide a cost-effective way of reaching remote areas, of improving education, of sharing information on health and the environment. Their impact will be much more effective if they reach both men and women. There are many groups and organizations working towards this aim, some of which are listed under Links below.

Notes

1) UN, The World's Women 2000, 2000, p. 9
2) Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, Platform for Action, Women and the Media. Para.234 &237
3) Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/world/index.html)
4) Council of Women-Farmers of Ukraine (http://www.cwf.org.ua:8080/)
5) UNU/INTECH and UNIFEM "Gender and
Telecommunications: An Agenda for Policy"
6) Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, Platform for Action, Women and the Media
7) World Bank

Links

WomenWatch - The UN Gateway on the Advancement and Empowerment of Women is a joint UN project to create a core Internet space on global women's issues. It was created to monitor the results of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/world/)

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) promotes women's empowerment and gender equality. It works to ensure the participation of women in all levels of development planning and practice, and acts as a catalyst within the UN system, supporting efforts that link the needs and concerns of women to all critical issues on the national, regional and global agendas. (http://www.unifem.undp.org/)

UNESCO -UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is the primary UN agency on educational and cultural issues. It has various programmes and activities promoting the status of women http://www.unesco.org/women

ITU Task Force on Gender Issues aims to ensure that women have equitable access to the benefits of telecommunications and are not disadvantaged by sector reform and industry changes and to increase women's participation in all levels of the telecommunication sector. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D-Gender/

The International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC) is dedicated to achieving women's full participation in shaping a development process that is just, peaceful and sustainable (http://www.iwtc.org/)

Gender in African Information Network aims to facilitate communication, discussion and information sharing between organisations and people interested in gender and women's issues in Africa (http://womensnet.org.za/links/gainbroch.htm)

Flame is a network of African sisters online committed to strengthening the capacity of women through the use of ICTs to lobby, advocate and participate in the Beijing +5 process regionally and globally (http://www.flamme.org/)

Isis-Women's International Cross Culture Exchange was founded in response to the need for women from various regions of the world to communicate ideas, create solidarity networks and share information to overcome gender inequalities: http://www.isis.or.ug/

Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) aims at ensuring that girls have access to school, complete school and perform better: http://www.fawe.org/

Women'sNet is a vibrant and innovative networking support program designed to enable South African women to use the Internet to find the people, issues, resources and tools needed for women's social activism: http://womensnet.org.za/

Grameenphone has a dual purpose: to receive an economic return on its investment and to contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a critical role. Http://www.grameenphone.com