Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
An archive of a 2003 TechSoup Online Event
In August 2003, I had the honor and pleasure of co-facilitating an
asynchronous discussion on the TechSoup Forum, an online community, with
Latifat Kadir of Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, I was based in Bonn,
Germany, working for the United Nations. During this particular week in
August, TechSoup was encouraging discussions about the digital divide,
and our portion was a focus was on the challenges that women and girls
face in accessing computers and the Internet. As you will see, the
conversation ended up going on much longer than the week.
You can see the entire conversation archived on the Internet Wayback
Machine. The following URL goes directly to the archive of the
conversation from March 6, 2004:
http://www.techsoup.org/forums/index.cfm?fuseaction=read&forum=2012&id=51660&cid=117
Below is also an archive of that discussion, offered here so that it
shows up in modern search engines, so researchers can see how issues
have changed - or not - for women's access to various public spaces, to
computers and to the Internet. There are no live links and many URLs
posted no longer function:
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Welcome to day three of TechSoup's discussion about the Digital Divide!
Today's focus is women and girls and the Digital Divide, but you can
certainly feel free to post to any of the folders regarding other
aspects of the Digital Divide here on TechSoup. Discussions may continue
long after the official "day" ends.
I encourage everyone to be generous with each other regarding trying to
understand different points of view on this and other topics. There is
not one of us who can speak on this topic with complete and utter
authority -- you all have something to say, and I hope you feel
comfortable saying it here, even if someone -- or even everyone --
doesn't agree with it.
My co-host for this discussion is Latifat Kadir, who lives in Lagos,
Nigeria. She will post more information about herself here momentarily.
I am in Bonn, Germany, and that means both Latifat and I are on very
different time zones than the rest of you -- for those of you in North
America, we probably won't be around for your afternoon discussions.
TOPIC INTRO
There are barriers that keep women and girls in particular away from
computer and Internet-related classes and community technology centers.
These barriers are even more pronounced in developing countries, but
certainly still exist in the U.S.
What are the barriers? I'm going to speak generally, and with the
knowledge that these are present in varying degrees, and that these are
in no particular order of importance:
-- lack of childcare
-- reluctance by other women and girls, family members, tech-related
class organizers and tech center staff to support women and girls in
participating in tech classes or in using tech ("Why do YOU need
computer training?")
-- class and tech center structures where "squeaky wheels get the
grease", meaning that unless you know how to be very verbal and
demonstrative about needs and opinions, you won't be attended to or
supported much
-- cultural barriers, as in a woman may feel uncomfortable being the
only one, or one of just a few women, in a computer class
For women in developing countries, there is also a lack of
education/literacy that affects this issue more than women in "The
North," as well as a profound lack of TIME. Women in these countries are
engaged in childcare, income generating activities and managing the home
-- unless they give up sleep, when would they be able to use a community
tech center?
What are other barriers that keep women and girls away from computer
and Internet-related classes and community technology centers? Or do you
think there is no such digital divide and, if so, why?
SOME OF MY THOUGHTS
Actually, I've shared a lot of my thoughts already on this subject in
the "Gender and the Digital Divide" folder already here on Tech Soup.
But here they are in one fell swoop:
I have observed and experienced the reluctance of many woman -- not all
women -- to attend workshops that have something to do with computers
and the Internet, to ask questions if they do attend, and to experiment
with these tools. Other trainers I have talked to, with rare exceptions,
experience the same thing. When I have worked with women regarding
computers and the Internet, the phrases I hear often (but never from
men) are:
-- I am really stupid about computers/I cannot use computers well
-- I have a stupid question
-- I'm not a techie and I don't really understand the Internet
-- I don't think I can learn this.
-- I don't understand how a computer/the Internet are really going to
make that much of a difference in my job/my life; it just seems like
more work to me
There does seem to be insecurity issues for some women regarding
technology that don't seem to be there for men, generally speaking. The
"I'm stupid" comments break my heart -- how did so many women get the
idea that they are stupid? As a result, when I do workshops, I always
say early on that I believe non-techies and those who are great at
working with people are the ones who do the most exciting, the most
interesting things with technology, and there are absolutely no stupid
questions. I also make sure everyone understands that I am not a techie
either -- I don't know how my car works, but I sure take it to some
really exciting, wonderful places.
And, yet, ultimately, from what I've experienced and what I've heard
from others, women perform as well or even better with computers and the
Internet once they have the confidence that they can do it. For me, the
older the woman or the lower-the economic level of the woman, the more
insecure she seems to be about her abilities to learn about computers
and the Internet -- or anything "new", for that matter. And, yet, once
we find that comfort zone, off they go, as well as anyone else and,
often, even better.
OTHER QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE:
What does the gender-related digital divide look like to you?
How have you seen it or experienced it yourself?
What steps do individuals, nonprofit organizations/NGOs, instructors,
and even governments need to take to address this gender digital divide?
Does the corporate world have a role to play?
And, finally, some resources:
ICT & Gender News and Resources
From the Development Gateway
Women's Net Organization
Offers an abundance of information and resources that are relevant for
those interested in a wide variety of Gender and ICT issues.
Gender Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An Analytic
Study
A paper about the information technology divide among women in
developing countries. It opens up to the readers the current situation
of gender information technology in developing countries, the issues
concerning women's access to them and the possibility of women's
political and economic empowerment through IT.
Be sure to view the the "Gender and the Digital Divide" folder already
here on Tech Soup for more thoughts on this subject.
Post by Latifat Kadir
Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Hi, my name is Latifat Kadir. I live in Lagos, Nigeria. I'll be
co-hosting with Jayne Cravens on this topic. I've been an online
volunteer with the United Nations Information Technology Service(UNITeS)
since April 2002. I have also volunteered offline with Hope Worldwide,
here in Lagos, Nigeria. I attended the University of Lagos, Nigeria and
The Nigerian Law School.
The topic we'll be discussing today is one that concerns everyone in
the world because in today's world, we've all become digital in a sort
of way that we can't escape.
The digital divide for women refers to that gap that exists
numerically in the use and existence of information about information
and computer technology between men and women. I have further observed
this divide in the participation of the women folk in ICT programs held
and on a daily basis, the number of women that use our commercially-run
cyber cafes compared to the men.
I think all people should care about this divide if we are truly
serious about raising women to be on the same pedestal as men as we all
advocate. Most especially in the present world of advanced computer
technology. Essentially the only thing that I see could amount to a
barrier to equal access to computers and the internet by the women folk
is a lack of the facilities/centres for this purpose, strictly provided
for the women folk. This would further arouse their curiosity and act as
a huge encouragement to the women.
What do you think?
latifat
Post by Latifat Kadir
Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
I'm in a cyber cafe right now. On the average, we have about 7:2
ratio, male to female. One thing I've however discovered over time is
that as with many other things, the girls(few as they may be) that have
been involved in computer technology have usually been good at it once
you put them through. One usually has school girls coming in and doing
the thing themselves in group and in that way teaching and learning more
from one another. No one may be a better example on how imaginary the
whole fear females may have about computers and information technology
than myself. When i decided to learn how to use the computer (because
really a couple of years back, 5 - 6 years), you'd actually get much
fewer people knowing their way about the computer, i found it so
difficult, it did quite seem like greek, especially when I had to learn
programming. But the moment I learnt, I hit it off; teaching myself so
much about the computer and still learing more each day. It all seemed
like so much hard work initially except I had the will to go on and
there hasn't been any turning back since then. A lot of times, up until
now, my female friends come around each time they have to do something
on the net or anything more than typing some words on the keyboard. What
I usually do is put them through more than they actually needed at the
moment and they have continually seen that there's not much to it
anyway. I tell every single girlfriend of mine, there's no way she's
going to move forward if she doesn't get computer literate and that
always pushes them forth. I encourage, give lessons when I can; make
them understand its whole relevance to whatever it is they are involved
in. That way, they know it has become a necessity, insecurity or no
insecurity.
Post by Will Rodina (mirrorshades)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Disclaimer: I do not intend to trivialize this thread, or the topic itself
by my post. Please know that I am sharing in sincerity -- it just so
happens that my reply involves cartoon strips.
-- I'm not a techie and I don't really understand the Internet
There is a "techie" cartoon strip that I read daily, titled "User
Friendly" -- it's about the adventures of a small local ISP. Most of the
characters are techies of one sort or another (programmer, web designer,
tech support, network engineer) -- the author of the strip very
thoughtfully has made one of the main characters and one of the minor
characters (a contractor) female. These characters can most certainly hold
their own in a computer/Internet setting, and often end up showing up the
male characters whose egos sometimes get in the way of their logic.
Another comic strip I read daily is titled "Helen, Sweetheart of the
Internet". This strip's main character is a female sysadmin/programmer,
who struggles to be a technology worker in a male-dominated industry.
I am impressed with both of the authors of these strips, since it would be
easy enough to write strips that are entirely focused on the male
readership (these are very "niche" strips, and aren't likely to show up in
the newspaper anytime soon). I believe that this is great social
commentary for the technology field, even in what might seem like
something that is fairly trivial. Both strips portray their female
characters in a very positive light, and with "can do" attitudes towards
technology.
Links:
User Friendly - http://www.userfriendly.org/
Helen - http://www.comicspage.com/helen/
Post by Katrina Payne
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
I've several points to make. The first is something from my own
experience. I have felt nervous and uncomfortable using 'cyber cafes' due
to the fact that I can see men viewing pornography sites. I'm sure I can't
be alone in finding this completely unacceptable and it doesn't make me
want to return to these cafes, where I feel vulnerable.
Onto other issues - I think there is clearly a divide but there is also a
divide between rich and poor countries, women's literacy levels in these
countries (particularly for women from minority and indigenous
communities, who tend to have lower literacy rates than women from
majority communities), the time that women have to undertake new
learning/new tasks (a point that I think was already mentioned), and the
number of computers/phone lines etc that are available in different
regions of the world. Wherever these resources are scarce then women's
access to them will be even more scarce.
Hope these views are useful. Regards. Kat
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
"Both strips portray their female characters in a very positive light, and
with "can do" attitudes towards technology."
These are terrific! Thanks so much for sharing this info about these
comics! I think these would be terrific resources for computer trainings,
actually.
"I have felt nervous and uncomfortable using 'cyber cafes' due to the fact
that I can see men viewing pornography sites."
You know, I almost brought this up in my original post, but didn't. I'm
glad you did. Yes, I know what you mean -- the same thing happened to me
in a telecenter in Egypt. It made me feel very uncomfortable as well -- I
didn't want to see it, but unless I had put blinders on, there was no way
not to. And I also wondered, hmm, I wonder what these people are thinking
about myself and the only other woman in this place... I'm not sure what
the "solution" is though, as I don't like web filtering... anyone with any
ideas?
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
I absolutely agree with you Katrina, about the divide between rich and
poor countries which also arises the issue of the literacy level of women
in poor countries. But as to "feeling uncomfortable" in cyber cafes, that
has so far not yet been a problem in developing countries(in one of which
I live). This may be because the cyber cafes are yet small around here or
have their computers in private cubicles. Some of these public centres
have also made it a duty to log off anyone viewing pornographic sites in
their cafe or doing some other fraudulent stuff. But it may not
necessarily have come in the way of girls trying to learn or teach
themselves in such places.
Right now, obtaining access to the internet in developing countries has
definitely proved cheaper using the public means(usually via VSAT) than a
private connection via a phone line which is quite often seen as expensive
so people won't necessarily be talking right now about obtaining more
phone lines so they could get connected and women staying at home could
have better chances of getting computer literate. Except tarrifs come
lower, it may not be an option. But I definitely see the point you're
trying to make.
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Some data from previous discussions on TechSoup regarding gender and the
Digital Divide:
An very brief article by the BBC says "It could take another seven years
before men and women are using the net in equal numbers." The article
includes links to related stories.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3019710.stm
Ellen Spertus' paper "Why Are There So Few Women Computer Scientists?"
www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Gender/why.html
The person who originally posted it said "It's an excellent piece about
why women in academia specifically often havent pursued science careers
that I think can be applied to some of the wider issues of women in
computing in general."
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Jayne, I think in developing countries, the role the corporate world has
got in developing countries is sponsoring the setting up of community
technology centres exclusive to women. This they should consider as their
own contribution towards the development of the society, taking into
consideration that educational wise, women lag behind.
Post by Holanda
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
I'm from Venezuela, and I really would speak in Spanish... this serves to
me to appoint our first divide: the language, the first language in
internet is english; as latinamerican the poverty and the difficult to
connect most of people to phone and internet are the second divide; later
we could speak about the problems in education, and so on. Despite this,
the most of leaders of NGO's working with ITC for development are women,
and according to the last sounding from CAVEDATOS, in Venezuela de 49% of
the internet users are women and girls,principally, that use it for
sending mails and search for studies opportunities. Is a great notice,
don't u think? But this porcentage only is about one million of women (our
country has 22 million/persons). Nevertheless, the big problem is the role
as leader and specialist, cause women aren't informatic engineers nor
technician, i believe that infocenters or telecenters must have more women
in this tasks. Other problem, obviously are the contents, violence -porno-
and stereotypes are everywhere... The access to sciences disciplines is
equitable in our universities, but we can see this in the schools, offices
or cybercafes, by resultant, the girls haven't positive models in this
sense.
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
The cartoons are good. 'sure would do a lot of good in community
technology centres.
Post by slw311
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Hello All-
I am really glad this conversation has started!
I run a small CTC in East San Jose, CA. Now many people believe CA
to be a technologically advanced place, but I can definately tell you that
the digital divide is alive and well here in East San Jose.
However, here in our center the majority of the people taking the computer
classes (80%) are women, and durring open lab hours we do have a large
number of young boys coming in, so we've instituted Girls Weds, where boys
are not allowed, to try and make it more accessable/comfortalble for
younger girls to come in.
I think we have been successful in getting more women into our classes,
because we have really taken a look at the barriers to participation in
technology classes (or other activities as well). Our courses are
designed for some one who may not have had much education (if any at all),
we always offer child care here on site free for people taking the
classes, and we try and offer classes at times during the day that work
for the women in the area. I think it doesn't hurt that the staff
are women (me and the other instructor), but that wasn't intentional,
actually.
That being said, we do have filting software in place so that no one can
(hopefully) access the porn sites. If someone is found accessing
them (purposfully), they are removed from the lab and asked to not
return. We have a lot of little kids using the lab, and I don't want
them to stumble innocently on whitehouse.com (porn site) when looking to
find information about our government.
So, I hope we are doing the right things to help relieve the gender divide
in technology, however, that is at the expense of the men in the
community. As was mentioned, many men do not feel comfortable if
they are the only man in a class of 10 women. And I think the ecomonic and
social factors that make the digital divide so obvious here in CA effect
not only women, but also men in my community.
Post by Helen Seal
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Jayne wrote:
When I have worked with women regarding computers and the Internet, the
phrases I hear often (but never from men) are:
-- I am really stupid about computers/I cannot use computers well
-- I have a stupid question
-- I'm not a techie and I don't really understand the Internet
-- I don't think I can learn this.
-- I don't understand how a computer/the Internet are really going to make
that much of a difference in my job/my life; it just seems like more work
to me
In the UK and US I've trained around 400 men from blue-collar backgrounds,
mainly warehouse workers, to use computers in their jobs. These are
exactly the sort of comments that they make when I work with them one on
one. The people who are least literate and numerate are the ones who
show the most concern.
Men who are reluctant to speak out in a group, or who think they will come
across as stupid can be just as invisible as women who feel the same
way. I'm not saying this isn't a larger issue for women than for
men, just that it's not neceassrily as clear cut as straight gender lines
might make it seem.
I find there is a huge difference between encouraging women to use
computers and encouraging them to understand and be involved in the
technical aspects. Although Internet use by women is still lower
than men the gap is at least closing, and it's nothing like the gap
between men and women studying computer science which, frighteningly, has
been increasing.
Helen
Post by Sharron Rush
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Excellent point, Helen -
I live in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood in East Austin,
Texas. it's a poor neighborhood and many of the neighbor kids
will stop by to browse the Internet, play games and even, once in a while,
research and do homework (grin).
One of the neighbor girls is very adept at the technical aspects of the
machines. She is on the spot if there is any problem - and she often
solves them! A local fix-it company is called Computer Moms, and
when they sent a woman over to help with a networking problem, Monica
followed her around with stars in her eyes.
But the other kids tease her about being interested in this and make fun
of the fact that she is good with the technology. And her mother only
wants her to do laundry, cook meals for her father and brothers, and find
a husband. Mom is strongly opposed to Monica's interest. I
have seen a lot of kids in this part of town pull away from things that
they are good at because of peer pressure - I am not sure how to support
her talent in the face of such opposition. Any success stories about
girl's technology camps or such?
Post by Gia
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to have an input into the curent
topic on Digital Divide.
It's wonderful to be in this world of high tech, to be able to rceive and
send messages around the world in a "click" to be involved, Yet so many of
our country's women are not participating, the opportunity is there, the
equipment two steps away, but something is missing,
I tried to find out by doing a little servey, here's what I found out
Many women have a computer in the home
Some are afraid to use it
Some say it's for the children
After getting home on evenings I don't want to see a computer;
Me! and that thing; never
That is for young people
Some use it to play games, nothing else
Some have it because it was given by the big son abroad, to keep in touch
on the net, so we put it on, once or twice a month to see if there is any
mail from him, answer and switch it off
That thing cost to much money, I cannot afford another phone in the house,
both of us working and we could sneek a chance in the office:
Just some of the responses!
Some of the people questioned are professionals!
My question therefore is where is the divide, somewhere in our mind?
Trinidad and Tobago
Post by Helen Seal
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Sharon
There was an AP article recently about a girls computer camp:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6238903.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Helen
Post by Helen Seal
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 27 2003
Gia,
While I think some of narrowing the gender gap is a matter of women, and
the rest of society, changing their attitudes, I also think it's clear
that there are other things going on too.
Ellen Spertus' paper (that Jayne posted above) documents ways in which
women and girls are treated differently to men and boys, and circumstances
that women and girls find themselves in more often than men and boys, that
contribute to their lack of representation in technology fields.
My bachelors is in math and computing, I found that, while both fields
were male dominated, computing was more hostile to women than math was. In
computing, pornography and sexual objectification of women was fairly
prevelant and the style of communication was fairly confrontational.
This was especially true in the online arena, a place that was essential
to really get involved in debate around the subject, develop a broad
understanding of the subject matter and keep up-to-date on cutting edge
research.
Having said that I'm not, personally, a fan of women only groups.
Helen
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
También, quiero usted saber acerca de una guía que escribí en inglés que
se ha traducido en el español.
Guía del Voluntariado Virtual
http://www.sumadevoluntades.org/summa/evoluntas/manual/
¡Yo no tomé parte en la traducción!
¡Gracias tanto para su contribución! ¡Suena como usted hacen el trabajo
bueno!
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
Wow! This week, we've heard from women in Lagos, Nigeria; Venezuela; East
San Jose, California (I used to live in San Jose!); East Austin, Texas (I
used to live in Austin!) and several points in the US (in the previous
gender and the Digital Divide discussion in March, we heard from Bulgaria
as well!).
I know we've had a lot of "lurkers" too -- lurkers, I'd love it if you
would post, even just to simply say, "Hi, I'm from such and such and I
enjoyed/hated this discussion!"
We've heard about the various barriers women and girls in various
countries face, we've heard how some of you are supporting women and girls
in both tech access and tech education access, and we've heard about
"Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet".
A summary of some of the ways that have been proposed, both on this folder
and in the previous folder (called "Gender and the Digital Divide"), to
support women and girls access to tech:
-- emphasize that it's okay not to be a technical expert in order to
understand how to use computers and the internet
-- emphasize that there are no stupid people or questions
-- create more access points for women and girls
-- create girl-only days at centers in cases where more gender balance is
needed
-- give girls access to women mentors/role models who are use computers
and the Internet extensively
-- if you are good at using computers, help women and girls you work with
in building their capacities to use such
-- share positive images of women and girls using computers (such as
"Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet")
-- ask women and girls why they aren't using computers and tech, and see
if there are issues you aren't addressing but should
-- keep in mind that literacy and lack of English skills are also barriers
to women using tech
-- have honest, open conversations about pornography, how its perceived,
how it makes women computer users feel, etc.
-- remember that everyone needs educating on this issue, men, women, boys
and girls
-- capture and promote success stories (ask women who are using tech how
it is benefitting them and share these stories)
-- "show them how to do little things that make them feel like they are
the one in charge--instead of the machine."
-- acknowledge that men and women may go about using computers and
learning about computers differently than each other, and that's okay
-- have dinners and informal gatherings where women and girls get to share
what they do with computers and the Internet
-- Have a women only beginning computer class
-- Have on-site childcare for these women
-- Provide bus passes
-- Provide referrals for other appropriate support services.
What else?
And this discussion does not have to end! Feel free to add more info,
thoughts or questions any time.
A big, big thanks to my co-host, Latifat!
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
About ‘web filtering’, I think in relation to public cyber cafes as well
as community technology centers, if it is within the ambit of the law, the
admin running the cafes should monitor the sites being visited and also
make it explicit that porno sites are to be viewed in such public places.
This, while giving people interested in visiting such sites an option of
being in another café also makes the women more disposed to using such
cafes where pornography sites are prohibited to be viewed.
Another option is to have public technology centers where each p.c stays
in its own cubicle(though this may be an expensive project) thus
preventing the next person from viewing the next p.c. This would be along
with a central monitoring system where people’s activities on the
internet in public centers may also be monitored in case of other
fraudulent acts.
Jayne, here are some other things we could add to your list:
1.Development of websites richly endowed in vocabulary for the translation
of languages, such sites being supported indigenously (so that the
vocabulary could be sufficiently taken care of).
2.Launch of scholarships for women and girls who have shown the slightest
interest in getting involved. This would further clear the myth
surrounding the technology.
3.In communities where people are more comfortable with girls sitting home
to do house chores, I suggest orientation programmes especially for their
mothers so that the girls could get involved with ICT side by side with
the role they are expected to play, this especially when the mothers know
the relevance of ICT in today’s society.
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
The issue here is: Is there really enough participation in ICT generally?
Because if a substantial part of the society was getting actually
involved; ICT in work places, hospitals, banks, government offices etc.,
there is no way ordinary people, especially professionals would not be
infected. What this means in this kind of situation is that the
orientation must start with all the people, bringing into fore the
relevance of ICT in today’s society. At that point, we shall then address
the issues that may cause or be responsible for the lower involvement of
women in ICT. What this means is that in societies presently getting
increasingly ICT conscious, the divides does exist.
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
Sharron, if you know her mother personally, you could talk to her so
she’ll understand what we all stand to gain. Moreover, her kid could get
ICT involved and still do laundry, cook meals and find a husband(‘sure
makes better chances for her). I’m sure other people in the community,
especially the young girls would be encouraged by this.
Post by Latifat Kadir
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
This discussion's been fulfilling. More views are invited.
Latifat
Post by Helen Seal
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
Jayne,
I also think a lot can be done about content to encourage women and girls
to use and develop technology.
For instance, introduce women and girls to Internet forums and resources
concentrating on topics that the they are already interested in whether
that be health information, religion, fashion, local politics, or current
affairs. I expect this would be different in different places
and focusing on different groups, but a determined effort to find out what
women in a target audience are interested shouldn't really be too
hard.
Another trick that some women find useful is to use a male persona
online. I don't know if it's because others treat them differently,
if they feel they're allowed to do more as a "man", or if it's the idea
that you can change your persona like that is liberating to them.
Also, for technology focused courses I think content could change in a way
that would make it more interesting and accessible to women and
girls. There are a number of people who have looked at this more
closely than I have, though I can't find a web reference for you
all. But the recommendation I remember in particular is bringing
human-computer interaction issues into the introductory courses (which
would probably benefit everyone's computer experience).
And for taking women and girls beyond use of technology into being techy -
encourage them to be geeky. There's no replacement for slogging over
a problem until you've understood the fundamentals, or using the Internet
to solve some frustrating bug. Like learning a musical instrument,
it takes lots of practice. Helping women and girls realize that
that's OK and they are allowed to be as single minded about technology as
boys and men if they want could make this more acceptable.
Helen
Post by Doris R-L
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
I learned recently that the Girl Scouts have done research regarding the
lag for girls and information technology and are responding with learning
opportunities. Locally, the Council has set up a computer training
lab for their troop members. Instead of focusing on the technology
per se, they focus on what the girls can do with the technology. For
example, they may plan an event so the Girl Scouts learn how to develop
invitations, set up an email group list, design a newsletter or flyer on
the event, research ideas for fun things to do, etc. The technology
is a tool to reach a wider goal but the girls learn so many skills
associated with it.
Boys and men will play with the technology just to know how it works but
women, and apparently girls, want to know how it can add value to their
lives through short-cuts, cultivating relationships, etc. Since this
assessment agrees with my own experience with IT, it rings true for
me. What do others think?
Post by slw311
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
Hi Doris-
I totally agree with you and the girl scouts it seems, on this one.
Very few of the women I deal with on a regular basis come in to learn for
learning's sake. It is always a means to an end...get a better job,
help my kids with home work, learn new recipes to cook something more
interesting. Technology for them, using the computers, is a way to
achieve those goals they have.
I think that is very important to keep in mind for those of us who are
designing basic courses to get more people (espcially women and girls)
involved in technology.
Post by Andrea (andbla)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
Hi
I just wanted to say thank you for the fantastic comments and information
in this posting. I accidently fell into the discussion by clicking
on the wrong subject and was hooked. I work in a govt service that
runs on a terminal server farm. When we first came on board, the
word lesbian was was blocked to us...at the time we had a lesbian health
phone line! Incredible stupidity by the powers that be had us
arguing that lesbian was a valid search term. The issue was finally
resolved, but it took time and energy to argue something that we shouldn't
of needed to argue about.
Once again
Thank you
Andi
Post by Michael Casey
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
DIMINISHING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
In conjunction with GOODWILL INDUSTRIES of GREATER DETROIT we have put
together a job training, computer refurbishing, program. We are
providing Pentium 1's with monitor, keyboard and mouse (no operating
system) for less than $100.
If you are interested in learning more about the Job training programs,
search the GOODWILL opportunities in your area on the web.
Post by Irene R. Chia
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 28 2003
I'm Irene R. Chia and I work in Isis International-Manila as a Media and
InfoCom Services Programme Associate. Isis is a feminist information and
communication organisation based in Manila, Philippines and our website is
at www.isismanila.org. In Isis, our efforts to bridge the digital divide
include providing training to women on how to use e-mail, internet, yahoo
messenger. We also provide training on web development. We train women who
work in NGOs or non-government organisations. A few months ago, Isis
trained 4 women from The National Network of Informal Workers, HOMENET
Philippines to set up their own website. The National Network of
Homeworkers, founded in 1989, works to strengthen, consolidate and expand
the national network of homebased workers in the Philippines, and to
provide support services for the social and economic welfare of
homeworkers. They were able to set up their own website at
http://www.geocities.com/patamaba.
In poor countries, having access to the internet or being computer
literate is not the priority because we are faced with more basic and
survival problems like food, water, shelter. Majority still don't have
telephone lines and computers. Although mobile technology is advancing
rapidly, it is still very expensive to use this technology. Internet
centers are mostly available in the cities so people living in the rural
areas won't have access. People still prefer print over the web because
printed materials are more readily available to them.
There is also the question of language. There are several dialects and
languages all over the world so if we want more people to receive our
information, it is important to consider having a more multi-lingual
website.
Post by Barbara Sievers
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: August 29 2003
Hi all,
I was a computer trainer in Germany for the last 8 years and in the last 2
years I trained only women. i found out that most of the women I met never
tried to find something on their own. the main difference between training
of men or women was that men were obviously trying to solve their problems
on their own even when it was not the right solution. Women waited for the
next lesson and asked a lot of questions. After some time they tried to
solve problems by discussing it in groups.
I am a trainer now in Nigeria and doing training for British Council,
mostly men and women. In Nigeria I met a lot of men who are not very
advanced in computer technology and they are able to work together with
women during a training - much more than that was the case in Germany.
Post by jbbeam
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: September 02 2003
I have been reading the digital divide discussions for a while and have
never really known how to reply to them but I think I will give it a try.
I feel I risk being labeled as perhaps sexist or narrow or whatever but
none-the-less, like all others I have a valid perspective. In particular I
am looking at the gender issue. I have found it very interesting as I am
surprised at some of the comments not because the issues are not real, but
I rarely encounter them. Possibly this is because I am not as sensitive to
them as others. Just so you have a perspective, I am your average white,
male, middle class generic techie. I teach db design at the undergrad
level (on occasion). I also teach intro to computers for adults as a
volunteer ( typically retirees looking to get into technology or people
looking to change careers ). By day however I am a db designer and app
developer (erp systems). Over the last 9 years I have traveled often to
Brazil, China (mostly mainland but also Taiwan ). In all the classes I
have taught ( or training ) I have never encountered the “I’m too stupid”
comments. I have been a student in non-tech classes where I have heard
this but rarely, and not when I am teaching. At the undergrad level I will
certainly say that females are very underrepresented in technology. But
beyond that ( which is very important )I generally see a 50/50 or better
split. In Asia and Brazil there were always FAR more females in training
than males. Not because they males were already doing the job but rather
there were more females interested. Not all just clerical jobs either.
Again about 60/40 split ( males to females ) in management. These do not
seem to be ratios supported by studies but that is from my experience.
(This is where I get labeled ) It has been my experience among those who
speak English as a second language, that the females simply have better
language skills than their male counterparts. Not all, but if I were to
generalize that would be it. As English is still the predominant language
of technology and the web, those with better English skills excel in that
market place. In China, that was key to landing a “better” job. These
females then became the supervisors and “group leaders” etc. The digital
divide I encountered was not along gender issues. In the west, my
generation is the beneficiary of the “women’s movement” ( I have worked
for females, with females and have had females under my supervision. ) and
that is just the norm. Perhaps in other area’s of the world, technology
will help change the norm there as well.
Post by Deepa Kandaswamy (daknews)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: September 02 2003
Hello all,
I hope the participants on this thread will find the following article of
mine interesting.
http://www.dqindia.com/content/special/103022602.asp
It covers most of the issues dicussed on this forum.
Regards,
Deepa Kandaswamy
India
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: September 05 2003
Hey, jbbeam. Thanks for a very honest and open account of your experiences
as a trainer. I hope you will comment more on other forums here on
TechSoup -- I'm sure you have some things to say that many would find
helpful.
Indeed, I haven't experienced the "I'm stupid" comments from women outside
the U.S. when doing trainings. And after trainings I've done in Egypt, it
was the women who wanted to get into detailed discussions and seek more
information. I wonder why I (and others) have experienced so much in the
U.S.?
What we're touching on here in this forum regarding the gender divide is
that, for example, in most telecenters and cyber cafes in the developing
world (and many in the developed world), men and boys far outnumber the
women and girls. Studies show again and again that women are not accessing
computer-related tools or education anywhere near that of men. Why is this
gap happening? That's what we're trying to explore.
Certainly all of our experiences are going to be somewhat different, and
sometimes, we're going to have an experience that goes against the "norm."
Here at UNV, we've just put together our delegation for the WSIS
conference in Geneva in December, and were stunned to realize we've got
only two men in our 10 member group. Also, half of our delegation is over
40 (but I won't be telling you which ones at the WSIS, so don't ask). But
I'm not ready to say, based on this, that the gender gap is no more...
Again, thanks for the comments -- keep them coming.
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
WSIS to hear women's needs
Posted: September 05 2003
A CHARTER committing South Africa to use technology to improve the lives
of women will form part of the country's input to the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) to be held in Switzerland in December. The
communications ministers of SA and neighbouring countries are already
working on a regional wish-list to ensure that African needs get a fair
hearing at the global event. That work has now been augmented by a Women's
Charter that Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will present at
the Geneva conference
Business Day (Johannesburg) posted by AllAfrica.com, August 21, 2003.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200308210157.html
Post by Barbara Sievers
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: September 11 2003
Jane,
to answer your question why women are not often seen in cybercafes is that
men often look at porno sites in cybercafes. I myself feel very often
incomfortable by entering cybercafes and looking at men who are looking at
these harassing pages. I think that there are more women entering
trainings or workshop where they feel safe from these harassments, but in
most cybercafes they don't. I found some cybercafes who would stop to
allow access to sexist websites and I will try to offer some women only
cybercafe days. On top of that maybe we should work on a label like This
cybercafe is free of racist and sexist sites. Together with the label
there should be some award Cybercafe of the Year or something like that.
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
gender & ICT: strategies of inclusion (Jan. 2004 conference)
Posted: September 12 2003
CALL FOR PAPERS
Symposium Gender & ICT: Strategies of Inclusion
Research on the inter-relations between Gender and Information &
Communication Technologies is dynamic, multidisciplinary, engaging and
creative.
In January 2003 the symposium 'Gender and ICT: Where are we at' was held
in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We aim to pursue the discussions begun
there and therefore we are pleased to announce the symposium entitled:
Gender & ICT: Strategies of Inclusion
This symposium aims to be a meeting point for researchers from different
disciplines and research schools that are familiar with ICT and gender
studies, women's studies or feminist studies.
The symposium will be held in Brussels on 20 January 2004. We invite
abstracts on the following themes :
- Women, Work and Computerization
- Gendered Relations towards ICT in Daily Life
- Gender issues in ICT at School and Informatics Education
- Gendering Technology: Structure and Design
Examples of possible paper sections in the different themes:
-- Women, Work and Computerization
-- Job profiles and the influence of ICT, the impact of ICT skills in the
job function classifications, influence of ICT on work organisation,
computerization of work and surveillance, portrayal of ICT (functions),
etc.
-- Gendered Relations towards ICT in Daily Life
Possession and use of ICT, domestication, ICT-literacy, user and skill
divide, consequences of use of ICT in the organisation of daily work and
private life, ICT and family life, privacy and ethics, wearables and
biometrics, on-line activities, interaction, Participation and democracy,
etc.
-- Gender issues in ICT at School and Informatics Education
-- Gender differences in ICT-use in school contexts
Computer attitudes, learning styles, informatics curriculum, e-learning,
feminist pedagogies, ICT and lifelong learning, etc.
-- Gendering Technology: Structure and Design
-- Women designing and shaping contents and systems of the new
technologies, social shaping of technology, production of ICT, feminist
critiques of
computing, gender scripts of technology, participatory design,
user-friendlessness, adaptivity, etc.
The deadline for abstracts (max. 500 words) is November 15.
The final programme will be available by December 15.
The working language of the symposium will be English.
Abstracts may be submitted to: Laurence Claeys or Sarah Meersman at:
steunpuntgeka@ua.ac.be
The symposium is a joint initiative of the Policy Research Centre on Equal
Opportunities (Belgium) and the European SIGIS (Strategies of Inclusion:
Gender in the Information Society) network. It is part of Digitales and is
supported by the. Dutch Association for Gender and Technology (The
Netherlands). During the symposium, members of SIGIS will present their
final research reports.
Policy Research Centre on Equal Opportunities :
http://www.steunpuntgelijkekansen.be
(website only in Dutch)
Dutch Gender and Technology Association:
http://www.indexsociety.nl/genderictsymposium/aboutvgt.htm
Digitales: http://www.digitales-online.org
SIGIS (Strategies of Inclusion: Gender in the Information Society):
http://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/sigis/
Website of the conference:
http://www.steunpuntgelijkekansen.be/genderandict
[still under construction].
Els Rommes, e.w.m.rommes@utwente.nl
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: September 12 2003
Barbara wrote: "to answer your question why women are not often seen in
cybercafes is that men often look at porno sites in cybercafes. I myself
feel very often incomfortable by entering cybercafes and looking at men
who are looking at these harassing pages."
Indeed, Barbara, this issue has come up several times in our discussions
here on TechSoup. It's surprising that it does not come up more in
discussions about why women in developing countries don't use cybercafes
or community tech centers (is it a problem in the developed world as well?
It hasn't happened to me in the U.S., Germany, the Czech Republic or Spain
when I've used cybercafes or community tech centers, but maybe I was
lucky?).
Indeed, creating a safe atmosphere for women to use cybercafes and
community tech centers seems to be an ongoing theme from this discussion.
Thanks for contributing!
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
New Gender & ICT forum at Digital Opportunity Channel
Posted: September 15 2003
A new forum has been launched at the Digital Opportunity Channel:
Gender & ICT: Issues, Implications & Opportunities
OneWorld South Asia is launching this email-based discussion forum in
partnership with i4d (information for development)
http://www.i4donline.net, an ICT initiative of the Centre for Spatial
Database Management & Solutions based in India.
"The economic and political marginalization of women, especially in
developing countries, is leading to their stunted growth. Gender
discrimination in the access to information is hampering sustainable
development. It has been substantiated that information and communication
technologies (ICT) have a major role to play in bridging this gap. But the
gender gap in the 'digital divide' itself is now an increasing concern."
"How ICT can support gender empowerment is something that still needs to
be discussed and understood. If access to and use of the new technologies
is directly linked to social and economic development, then it is
essential to ensure that women in developing countries understand the
significance of these technologies and use them. If not, lack of access to
ICT becomes a significant factor in their further marginalization from the
economic, social and political mainstream - both within their countries
and in the world. Without equal and full participation in ICT use, women
will be left out from participating in the global world of the 21st
century."
One World will use this conversation to gather information for its inputs
to the upcoming WSIS 2003.
"This platform will attempt to increase awareness, raise concerns and make
our commitments to give a gender perspective to policies and design of
development tools. It will circulate information on resources, practices
and events on how women globally are being empowered by ICT."
All the discussions will be streamlined in a summary report each month and
would be presented to concerned authorities and at various events where
agendas are being discussed in the context of gender and ICT, so that
these can influence national, regional and global strategies.
To join, send a blank email to: join-GenderICT@dgroups.org
On successful sign-up, you will receive an email asking you to confirm
your subscription. Please follow the instructions in the email to activate
your subscription. This is a security measure to prevent you from being
signed up by someone else.
Once you activate your subscription, you will start receiving mails posted
to the discussion list.
For more information about the forum, visit
http://www.dgroups.org/groups/GenderICT/
Digital Opportunity Channel is a joint endeavor of OneWorld
(http://www.oneworld.net), and the Digital Divide Network
(www.digitaldividenetwork.org),
dedicated to ICT for development issues.
Post by Don Cameron (donc)
RE: New Gender & ICT forum at Digital Opportunity Channel
Posted: September 15 2003
Thanks for reposting the above Jayne (sorry if I posted the original under
the wrong thread)
Noting a few comments on gender participation in Telecentres (CTC's), the
following papers and reports might be of some interest in demonstrating
how inroads have been made and female participation has risen markedly in
recent years.
Extract:
The 'Was it good for you' project was a student tracking research
commissioned by the Community University of the Valleys Partnership. The
purpose was to identify common results and experiences of more than 2,000
students who have attended an ICT course organised by the University of
Wales, Swansea. The students were 80% female and 20% male, a ratio common
to most community courses. Of note, 51% of women and 27% of men found paid
employment following the course.
Full extract at: Was it good for you? - Community University of the
Valleys Project
Other papers of note:
Transforming Information and COmmunications Technologies for Gender
Equality
ICT and Gender Equity Policy: Lessons of the Mali Telecentre's
PS - Next week I will be working at a CTC operating under the NSW.net
innitiative and will try to obtain some further gender stats from this
network.
Cheers, Don
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
ICTs, Gender and Literacy
Posted: September 29 2003
A colleague is working in a colonia on the Texas-Mexico border. The
colonias are rather dreadful housing, often with no electricity or running
water. Her post to another group discussing the digital divide is a good
example of how computers and the Internet can enhance literacy skills:
----
Our women have sixth grade educational levels, and a few have 7 or 8
years. One has 14 years. The women with more education grasp the concepts
and move ahead more quickly, and then they help the other women. I first
teach them using Paint, because one doesn't have to write or even read to
use it and they love the pictures they make. It is also very
intuitive: the pencil icon generates a pencil mark, etc. Then we
start word processing. Today they wrote a letter to their child's teacher
explaining why their child was absent. They learned how to use
spellcheck (in Spanish) and that emboldened them to write some English
because spellcheck helps them figure out the correct verb tenses and word
order as well as the spelling. Most of these women speak and understand
Spanish only, but have also started an ESL class. I make sure I teach them
the computer vocabulary in both languages.
I used to run a program where we put everyone on the computer up front,
including people who had never gone to school. It was a networked lab with
Internet access, which everyone loved. We noticed that individuals at all
levels made more progress in their Spanish literacy or ESL classes when
they also attended the lab.
I believe that insisting that people have a certain reading level in order
to use a computer is very counterproductive. Using the computer helps
people acquire improved literacy skills. Non-literate individuals can be
introduced to the world of two dimensional symbols using graphics, music,
and art programs, as well as developing appropriate hand-eye coordination,
small muscle movements, etc. This facilitates their learning literacy
skills, or second language skills.
Post by Lee (ldecoske)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: October 28 2003
The only divides I see are social barriers.
I do not buy into anything that is "specially made" for someone. If
they don't have hands or some sort of other disability then sure that is
different.
Classifying on color/race, gender, religion, or anything and then
providing something only to one group is not fair to the rest.
At least in the U.S. we should not cater to any specific group. I am
only 29 but during my educational years I did not see favoritism toward
males and science or computers. Only favoritism I have seen are
active job placements for minority groups as deemed by the govt. I
wouldn't feel right using that ticket for anything the govt. throws out.
We are as mentally equal as we allow ourselves. If we are unable to
socially interact with others because we feel we are inferior that isn't
someone else's problem. That is our own internal problem.
Sorry if I didn't provide a bunch of input beyond this but I really don't
see a need (at least in the US) for anything geared to a specific "group"
since "special groups" mean you are segregating from the other
"groups". Once we all realize that a human is a human is a human we
will be past all of this minor he is better, she is better hype.
Post by Susan_Tenby
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: October 29 2003
There is a lot of discussion on this topic in the women-techie blog,
http://www.misbehaving.net/
You all might want to check it out,
Susan
Post by Jodi Yap (jodi222)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: October 30 2003
We provide computers free of charge to schools Children and handicapped in
need.
Most of the clients we encounter are single parent households, with
95% being women, with girls in the home.
Most women are more concerned with putting food on the table and keeping a
roof over their heads, than keeping themselves tech savvy. They will
do what they can to improve their children lives.
After a day of working 10 hours and feeding children, as well as
maintaining a home, who has the time to learn much else?
We use this as a mean to teach. A requirement for a computer is education
of any parent who child receives a systems, as a parent is the first line
of defense against inappropriate materials.
NO one gets a system until parents understand the use of the computer.
To encourage the use of women in the tech world, we have started a group
of women and young girls whom we call the "Mother Boards".
Questions and concerns are aired in Email in a bulletin board forum.
We use computer recycling as an approach toward bridging the digital
divide and providing an equal access to computers and continually have
narrowed the gap between the 'information haves and information
have-nots”.
Follow up has proven that Parents of both single and two parent homes have
increased their house hold income by as much as 50%, due in large part to
a computer.
Post by sdixon
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: December 11 2003
I agree that there is a certain barrier that exists within the demographic
of gender. However, I think that aside from the primary level
of gender there is also the element of age group. In other words, I
believe that the female youth of the current and upcoming generations are
less hindered by some of the factors you've mentioned than females from
the "baby-boomers" and prior.
As a job skills and computer instructor to underprivileged adults, I see
the kinds of insecurities and concerns that you have described on a daily
basis. My female students are inherently concerned about being
perceived as unintelligent, incompentent, etc. Add to this the fact
that their levels of self-esteem are usually at a lower than average level
because of personal issues and lack of employment, and their willingness
to view themselves is minimal at best. Our organization has recently
integrated a new format to our classes - previously they were the classic
2, 4, 6, or 12 week versions offered everywhere. As of a year ago we
changed the format to open-entry/open-exit; in other words, the basis of
the class is more independent. Students are each allowed to work at
their own pace and on individual curriculums. There are other
institutions that offer this type of educational environment, and often
times it is both females and individuals over 30 that enroll.
Allowing a student to learn in a setting that has fewer students and a
more relaxed atmosphere alleviates some of the percieved social pressures
many of the female attendees typically feel.
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: December 29 2003
Someone earlier wrote:
"I really don't see a need (at least in the US) for anything geared to a
specific 'group' since 'special groups' mean you are segregating from the
other 'groups'
There is a definite need, in the US and elsewhere, and it's been
re-affirmed by the vast majority of posts in this forum, particularly in
the posts from women in developing countries.
The reality is that everyone is DIFFERENT and "one size does NOT fit all".
There is no one tried-and-true learning style that everyone must adhere
to, one absolute environmental standard that we had all just better get
used to or forget participating at all.
I do great in lecture/based workshops and loathe visuals that are supposed
to help me understand concepts (they just confuse me); by contrast, most
of the people I work with fall asleep in a lecture-based workshop and seem
to come alive during exercises to help them visualize a concept, and walk
away with a good understanding of the workshop objective. The best
workshops, IMO, are those that mix these styles, to accommodate the
greatest variety of learners possible.
Not all people learn the same way. Likewise, not all people feel
comfortable in the same situation. I'm a woman who has no problem being in
a room full of men and dicussing computers -- but the dynamics of such are
usually very, VERY different than when I'm in a room full of women, and I
have to say that I usually prefer the latter. The culture of such rooms
gets even more varied if it's a room full of guys from Silicon Valley
versus a room full of guys who volunteer in Community Tech Centers. Those
"cultures" are real, they are different, and different things appeal to
them. Again, there is no "one size fits all."
Several people on this forum have given excellent examples of the gender
digital divide, and I'm not going to repeat the examples now. To address
this and other divides (the digital divide for people with disabilities,
for the elderly, etc.), we need to look at the factors that have lead to
this divide, and address them accordingly. And often -- in fact, I'd dare
to say always -- in learning to accommodate a particular group that has
been left out thus far, you will end up accommodating EVERYONE better.
That's certainly been my experience in learning about accessibility issues
for people with disabilities: in learning to better recruit, accommodate
and support these folks, I've learned to better support EVERYONE.
Anyway, very glad to see this discussion going on and on and on.
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
UNIFEM urges more attention to gender & Digital Divide
Posted: December 30 2003
UNIFEM (the women's fund at the United Nations) URGES FOR MORE ATTENTION
TO BE PAID TO GENDER DIMENSIONS OF DIGITAL DIVIDE
In a UNIFEM statement issued at the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) in Geneva, UNIFEM, called for more attention to the gender
divides inherent in the global move towards an Information Society. The
UNIFEM statement emphasized the need for the international community to
recognize that without concerted action to address the growing gender
digital divide, a truly equitable Information Society would not be
possible.
Complete press release here:
http://www.unifem.org/pressreleases.php?f_page_pid=6&f;_pritem_pid=153
Post by Jayne Cravens (jcravens42)
RE: Bridging the Digital Divide -- GENDER
Posted: January 12 2004 8:40 AM Post Reply
Women in many Asian countries do not have as much access to computers and
the Internet as men, speakers at a technology summit said Monday. The
disparity exists in countries from South Korea, the world's largest market
for broadband Internet, to India, an emerging software superpower,
speakers said at the Asia Information Technology Ministers Summit. "In
Internet usage, we are at the top, but we too suffer from the digital
divide," said Kyu-hon Lee of the Korean Agency for Digital Opportunity and
Promotion. He said 70.5 percent of South Korean men surf the Internet, but
only 57.5 percent of women....
From the Associated Press
