How do ICTs impact women and men differently? What are the implications of women’s lack of engagement, participation and leadership in the use of ICTs for business and development? This report provides an overview of issues relating to women and Information and Communication Technology, including issues of: access and education; inclusion in the ICT workforce; qualifications and appetite for ICT career adoption; and opportunities and threats of ICTs on women’s lives. A ‘one policy fits all’ approach to mainstreaming ICTs has thus far been unsuccessful; a ‘female first’ policy is required. The impact on and engagement of women should be a key consideration in all projects.
The term ICT encompasses the Internet, radio, wireless phones and a wide variety of hardware and software. ICTs can facilitate knowledge sharing, and women’s engagement with ICTs is important for social and political justice as well as for economic development. However, ICTs can also reinforce pre-existing gender and social divides; a ‘gender digital divide’ exists in access, usage, in the availability and utility of content, in IT labour markets, in contribution to the IT industry, and in access to ICT at all educational levels.
It is not well understood how women access, use, develop and design technology compared to men; available data is anecdotal, country-specific and often not disaggregated by gender. In low-income countries, women face greater constraints than men:
- Social and cultural factors limit women’s access to shared ICT facilities such as internet cafes. This deters women’s adoption of ICTs in order to access information and knowledge.
- Education in science and technology is considered to be a male domain in many cultures, and ICT training is rarely gender-sensitive or tailored to women’s needs.
- Much software and internet content has not been developed to address the needs of women and girls and is rarely available in the languages that they speak.
- Women are under-represented in ICT decision-making structures (policy and regulatory institutions, ministries and boards of ICT companies) and are found in disproportionately high numbers at the lowest and least secure end of the supply chain (data entry, phone operations and administrative positions).
The economic opportunities that women can bring to development through ICTs will not be achieved unless all ICT mainstreaming efforts take gender into account. Policy and implementation recommendations include the following:
- It is critical to produce and maintain accessible local content for women, and to create the capacity for women to become software engineers, content producers and entrepreneurs.
- Implementation efforts should avoid formulaic approaches or prescriptive measures.
- Non-traditional patterns of education, entrepreneurship and business development are needed to develop opportunities that reach beyond traditional culture. For example, new employment models such as tele-working gives women a wider range of employment options that can be combined with domestic responsibilities.
- Women should not wait for policy to bridge the digital divide but rather take action through ICTs to access information and achieve their socio-economic development goals.
