on
"Information and communication technologies
and their impact on and use as an instrument
for the advancement and empowerment of women"
17 June to 19 July 2002
"ICT as a tool for women's economic empowerment"
This week's topic, ICT as a tool for women's economic empowerment, led to a vibrant discussion. Nineteen contributions were received from around the world (Asia, Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe) and from a range of participants including NGO workers, students, technology experts, activists and others. Despite the diversity of the discussants it is possible to draw some conclusions.
Taken as
a whole, the contributions from this week's discussion provided analysis
of and answers to three major questions:
1) What are the obstacles to using ICTs to economically empower women?
2) What are the ways in which ICTs have improved women's economic lives?
and
3) What are some strategies that can be implemented to ensure that ICTs
improve women's economic conditions.
OBSTACLES TO USING ICTS FOR WOMEN'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
There are multiple challenges to ICTs becoming a positive force for women's economic empowerment. Few participants directly referred to expense as a barrier. Financial resources are only one of many resources needed to make ICTs available and effective. Challenges include:
The obstacles addressed above comprised a substantial part of the discussion. However, there was also some reference to:
Although this week's discussants focused on both the formal and informal sectors of economies, throughout the week there was a keen interest in discussing the ICT needs of rural and informal sector women. The first post received in the conference effectively stated the general sentiment:
…the area where women's economic activities are most concentrated in developing countries is in the informal economy- women working at home on handicrafts and sewing or rolling cigarettes, working in cities as street vendors, - working without any contracts or benefits. In some developing countries ninety percent of economically- active women are in the informal economy. How can ICT empower women in the informal economy? If ICT is to make a difference in alleviating poverty and improving the well-being of women and their families, it seems to me that this is the crucial area for concentration.
Nancy Hafkin, USA
The following discussant listed the reasons why informal sector participation makes ICT delivery challenging:
The whole question of using ICT in the informal sector is a tough one -- there are issues of access, delivery of information, training, local language and content among others. In Pakistan, and other Islamic countries, the issues are exacerbated by the socio-cultural context. However, these are all issues that have been overcome in one way or another, and so represent challenges rather than absolute impediments.
Linda Jones, Canada
There exist particular difficulties in trying to use ICTs for informal sector women in developing countries. The infrastructure necessary for conducting e-commerce simply does not exist in most of the developing world.
Currently 85% of the world's e-commerce websites are US-based with Western Europe and Asia making up the rest. This means that global e-commerce policies may not be appropriate for developing countries… Few developing countries have frameworks in ICTs. E-commerce activities may not be appropriate for local communities to promote inter regional trade within Africa. How many of our people possess Visa cards etc. to be able to buy on the internet? Most organizations that run web-e-commerce trade internationally. We need to develop ways that promote regional trade. In some developing countries it is very difficult to open Foreign Currency Accounts. There arises a need to have a clearing house/broker to facilitate the process.
Margaret Zunguze, Zimbabwe
WAYS THAT ICTS CONTRIBUTE TO WOMEN'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
Many
posts observed that ICTs have improved the economic status of women
in some areas. Advances observed by conference participants include:
Once
again the focus from contributors was on women in the informal sector.
Both the ability of ICT to produce economic benefit for informal sector
women, and to facilitate the shift of women from the informal to the
formal sector, were seen as highly positive by the respondents. I
work in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Women's economic power has
been greatly enhanced by the acquisition of ICT skills. This has enabled
many women to gain employment into establishments such as the banks,
corporate organizations, computer services, data entry and statistics,
internet services providers and many others. Womenlight organization,
an NGO that works with female sex workers has turned out about 30 young
women between January and now on computer skills and they are all gainfully
and self employed.
Emem Okon, Nigeria I
have seen a lot of women advance from being just simple typist to consultants
and IT skills trainers through the power of the modern PC. Many employers
are realizing the potential of their employees ( especially women whose
education was affected from lack of funds or early pregnancies that
forced them to settle for less) through the use of computers.
Elgiva Nyahoza-Sibisi, Swaziland
One of the correspondents described a gender-related benefit of ICTs
in the following post: ICT
(can) provide (a woman with) the possibility to present herself as a
company, rather than an individual person, to have the chance to offer
quality services without having to go through the filters of personal
appraisals. Margarita
Salas, Costa Rica RECOMMENDATIONS The
recommendations generated during this week's discussion fall into three
major categories. Based on the views of the conference participants,
in order for ICTs to contribute to women's economic empowerment, strategic
actions must address:
The recommendations that focus on the informal sector include: Strategic actions suggested to address the needs of rural women include:
The belief of several correspondents is that for a rural project to
stand a good chance of success, the comprehensive needs of the targeted
women should be met. The following post describes such a gender-sensitive,
holistic project: (My organisation is) currently working in war affected, rural areas
of the country. We started with purchase of the equipment, basic computing
training that is added to the on site education for women (potential)
entrepreneurs (provided by one women's organisation). Idea is to provide
support in terms of advertising and reaching even remote markets and
teach about e-commerce. We engage international consultants and appreciate
share of experiences and case presentations. Legal advice related to
the small business can be also provided online. Danijela Babic, Croatia And finally, several posts urged the development of engendered ICT
policy to address the economic empowerment of women. Correspondents
suggest: One contributor expressed her policy recommendations in the following
post:
I hope these discussions will facilitate policy framework development
in the participating countries. Zimbabwe is developing its policies
through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. (A)s a result of discussions
of this gender-caucus, we will ensure that gender concerns are incorporated
at the local level. Margaret Zunguze, Zimbabwe Thanks
go out to all who participated in the first week of the DAW online conference,
those who read and those who posted. It is clear from your thoughtful
posts that you are deeply committed to your work. A special thanks is
due to non-native speakers of English for their participation. The effectiveness
of this summary would have been diminished by excessive length. Many
posts that I wanted to include had to be excluded. However, these contributions
will be included in the final report. Thanks to those whose posts I
have edited and used here. Please contact me if you have any concerns.
Remember that you can continue to post on last week's topic at any time.
Many questions that were raised have not been answered. The substance
of later posts will be included in the recommendations for the Expert
Group Meeting. Warmly, Go to
summaries for week: One , Two
, Three , Four
Gillian Marcelle
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Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations