Gender Disparities: Theories of Origin

Rural -Urban and male-female dichotomies are not new in development agenda. The latter, in particular, has occupied the attention of many educationists and development experts for decades now. In response several theories have been advanced in attempt to explain this phenomenon. Radical feminist theory argues that women are victims of patriarchical practices which perpetuates male domination over women. Conservative theorists view gender differences as a natural necessity which should be maintained for the good of the society on the basis of complimentary roles (Open university, 1989). The Marxist feminists blame capitalism as the cause of social differences between men and women. Subordination of women is, therefore, a product of capitalism which is characterized by class conflict and oppression (Fagerlind and Saha, 1989). Other scholars blame exotic technology and formal education for the current state of women. For example, chambers (1983) argues that policy makers have not done enough to integrate modern technology and the needs of women. There is further evidence that formal education has promoted alien behaviours which are incompatible with traditional values and therefore discourage girls and women from participating in modern education or development activities (Fagerlind and Saha, 1989). These theories imply that traditional practices and negative impact of modern developments have both contributed to the marginalization of women in rural areas.

ICTS- Rural Development Connection

Information and education are universally accepted as the source and determiner of human development. Chambers states:-

……it is knowledge which has made possible the cities, roads, railways, telephones, transistors,

schools, hospitals, medicine and guns which have penetrated and transformed many rural

areas (Chambers 1983, p. 76)

On women education World Bank report says:-

………investment in female education have some of the highest returns for development and for

the environment (World Bank 1992 p. 72)

Chen (2004) identifies the following advantages of ICTS in development.

ICTS have therefore become an important tool for promoting economic growth and development for all, including women.

Factors Affecting Access and Use of ICTS by Rural Women

Available studies indicate there are several factors that affect women's access to ICTs.

Lind and Johnstone (1989) in their studies on women literacy found that generally adult women face many difficulties in their learning. These are: -

In reference to ICTs Evans (1995) gives almost similar reasons and state the hindering factors as (i) cultural factors (ii) negative attitude of women (iii) lack of qualification in science and technological subjects (iv) situational factors such as lack of financial support, family commitments, isolation and lack of moral support from male partners (v) institutional barriers which are related to the way programmes are run or organized.

Survey done among nomadic women on access to radio in northern Kenya found that women actually lack confidence in themselves and that patriarchy is just one of the many impediments to use of ICTS by women. While 70% of the respondents admitted that radio was necessary, 60% of them showed that radio should be under men's custody (Otto, 2004). Women, therefore, spend less time with radio than men.

This position is reinforced by some traditional beliefs which view modern information technologies as socially inappropriate. Studies in Afghanistan confirm this -

………..women and children find it difficult to access and use radio because radio listening is socially constructed as an ostensibly male activity (Sukuse, 2000,p. 9).

Access to ICTS among rural women is, therefore ,generally low. The survey in northern Kenya again revealed that only 20% of the interviewed nomadic women owned radio whereas 35% indicated that they had never had physical contact with radio. A significant number of the women (65%) argued that radio was too expensive to afford while 25% thought radio was of no use to them. A small number (6%) however, indicated that their husbands would not allow them to own radio (Otto, 2004).

A national demographic survey in Kenya investigated the exposure of rural women to different types of media in comparison to their counterparts in the Urban areas and also men in both locations. The findings are shown below:-

Table 1

Comparative Data on Exposure to ICTS Based on Gender and Location

Source: Republic of Kenya, Demographic and Health Survey, 2003 pp.33-34

From the table it is clear that Urban Women are favoured against their rural counterparts in terms of access to media. While 42% in the urban areas enjoy access to newspapers only 15% in the rural areas do so. A reasonably higher percentage (57%) of urban women have access to telephone as opposed to only 19% of rural women. The information gap is, however, reduced by radio where 72% of the rural women have access to the medium against 84% of the urban women.

It is noteworthy that access of men to all the media is higher in both rural and urban areas. It is further important to note that radio and television are popular with rural women,perhaps, due to their appropriateness to the illiterate. Evidence from research indicate that new ICTS, especially Internet, which are predominantly in English have fewer users among rural women who are mainly monolingual (Preston, 1994). This explains why newspapers and electronic text-messages may be unfriendly to the illiterate mass . In many developing countries FM vernacular radios enjoy massive popularity among rural populations due to the language factor. Lack of proficiency in a foreign language definitely affects access and use of ICTS by rural women.

Among many rural communities women are either poor literarily or do not own wealth of their own. This a matter of concern since available evidence suggest that new ICTS are a preserve of the rich. A report by International Telecommunication Union, ITU (2003) indicates that 70% of ICTS users are from the high income earners whereas only 6% and 19% are from upper middle and lower middle income earners respectively. The low income earners constitute only 5% of ICTS users. This puts women at a disadvantage considering that in most countries there are more women than men at the lowest levels of income. (Todaro, 1986).

In most developing countries the majority of populations live in rural areas. In India, for example 70% of her population are in the rural. Distribution of ICTS in this country, however, overlook this fact. In 2002 statistics showed that 77% of internet users were from New Delhi and ten other capitals of the Indian States only (Chandrasekhar, cited in Gurumurthy, 2004). A recent study on teledensity indicate that Africa has teledensity of only 7.36 per 1000 persons while USA enjoys a comfortable proportion of 113.4 per 1000. Asia is slightly ahead of Africa with 24.4 per 1000 persons (ITU, cited in Gurumurthy, 2004). This means that the under- privileged populations like women will continue to lag behind in terms of access and use of ICTS unless communication infrastructure improves in rural areas.

In rural areas there is insufficient technical Knowledge for use and maintenance of ICTS. The poor attitude towards science and mathematics has also contributed to current state of women as regards ICTS. An ICT project in Uganda involving women experienced this problem when 20 - 30% of equipment could not operate due to lack of technical knowledge. Availability of ICTs , does not necessarily guarantee effective use of them by women unless they have the technical know-how.

From this discussion conclusion can be made that despite great progress already made in the field of information and communication technologies, there are still cultural, technological, attitudinal, geographical and economic factors hindering universal access and effective participation of women in ICT based activities.

What Has Been Achieved, So Far?

Despite clear constraints affecting women access and application of ICT'S there is plenty of evidence suggesting that the situation is changing. Available data indicate that women attitudes towards

(the use of ) ICTS is improving though this varies with location. Demographic survey in Kenya compared the attitude of both rural and urban women as regards the use of Newspapers, radio and television to pass messages on the importance of condoms.

Below are the findings:-

Table 2

Women's attitude towards the role of media on passing messages on condoms.

Location Radio Television Newspapers

Urban 73% 70 72

Rural 65 61 64

Source. Republic of Kenya, Demographic Survey, 2003, P. 83.

The findings from the survey suggest that though the attitude of urban women towards the use of media in passing sensitive messages through media is better, there is evidence that rural women too have began to appreciate the role of media in this regard. Since the figures are based on attitude and not access, it would be assumed radio slightly appeals to rural women more than the other media in this regard. The survey further investigated exposure to condom messages through the three media according to gender and location.

Table 3

Exposure to condom messages through media based on sex and location.

Location/Gender Radio Tel Newspapers

Rural

Women 70 28 28

Men 65 32 37

Urban

Women 82 65 56

Men 71 53 60

Source: Republic of Kenya, Demographic and Health Survey, 2003 pp. 82 - 84

Basing our conclusions on the figures above radio is more accessible to rural women and should be preferred for disseminating information on reproductive health. It is significant to note that the percentage of women relying on radio for this kind of information is higher in both urban and rural areas. Similarly, more urban women than men prefer following these messages on radio and television to newspapers. The low percentage of rural women either watching or reading newspapers may be as a result of lack of access or low literacy levels in rural areas. Appropriateness of radio as a telecommunication tool for rural communities has been confirmed in other parts of the world too. For example, radio campaigns led to massive increase of 40% of girl child enrolment in school in Senegal, West Africa (Adam and Haford , 1988). Access and affordability are the major factors favouring radio in rural areas against other ICTs .

Available research findings indicate that women involvement with NICTS is increasing. In India, for example, the percentage of women in ICT industry has increased from 5 to 45% in the last twenty years and it is becoming a feminine field more than other engineering disciplines ( Kandaswany, cited in Huyer and Sikoska, 2003 )

A combination of old and NICTS is also becoming a success story in rural areas. Radio and Internet (RANET) project in Uganda, Niger and Algeria claimed satisfactory success of such linkage. Rural women reportedly showed enthusiasm in this innovation and participated effectively in the project not only as clientele but also technical personnel (Col and Unesco, 2002).

Further report from India and Nepal indicate that NICTS have been used to empower rural farmers, some of whom are women. Through the wireless technology, the farmers are able to buy and sell livestock and exchange veterinary tips ( info change India, 2004). Survey carried out in Africa, Asia , Latin America and some developed countries have also shown that women participation in Non Formal Education (NFE) is encouraging. More women than men participated in these adult education programmes, especially in developing countries where 60% of the women participated, compared to 53% in Finland, a developed country (Carron and Car - Hill, 1991). Motivation of women to participate in educational programmes is attributed to the relevance of these programmes to their domestic needs. Research findings across developing countries support this view and claim that application of ICTS can only be successful if they address local needs of women such as, hygiene, sanitation, disaster management, domestic violence and so on (Sukuse, 2000).

In conclusion, though rural women lag behind in the use of ICTS, there is evidence that this trend can be changed if ICTs will address the actual needs of rural women.

Towards Millennium Goals

The preceding sections attempted to discuss the challenges and achievements that have been made in the use of ICTs among rural women. The geographical and gender gaps, however, remain. This section attempts to suggest what strategies need to be employed to reduce the existing digital gap between women and men in the rural areas.

Tackling cultural Problems

Cultural practices, especially patriarchy has been mentioned as one of the factors hindering effective use of ICTS by women. Below are suggested interventions:-

(Lind and Johnstone,1989). The rationale here is that these women can act as role models to other

women. This policy should be encouraged in ICT- related activities among rural women.

Economic Empowerment

Women need to be empowered financially to access ICTS. One intervention which has been successful is provision of flexible loans to them . Sukuse (2000) reports that this strategy has enabled women in some countries not only to access ICTS but also to earn a living by starting ICTS- based small scale enterprises to raise their economic capacity.

Developing `pro- poor' communication technologies coupled with free distribution of these technologies to marginalized populations as rural women has also been effective (Col and Unesco, 2002). This is preferable especially when considering that most rural women's economic power is low. Donor community should be encouraged to support such activities to raise the living standards of rural women.

Technological Innovations

To bridge the infrastructure gap in the rural areas, wind up radios and solar powered ICTS have been developed. Access to these technologies, however, has not been prevalent in rural areas. These developments, however, have been instrumental in expanding access to ICTS in South Africa (Adam and Haford, 1998). Africa and other third world countries in general are rich in solar energy which should be exploited for equitable rural development. The use of integrated media is also a viable intervention. RANET project was successful because it combined both old technology (radio)and new technology(internet) this kind of innovation can be exciting to rural women if their critical issues are addressed .

Multi- Sectoral Approach

Improving status of rural women require concerted efforts among all development partners. As Sukuse (2000) suggest, NGO'S, CBO'S and CSO can be important key intermediaries between the poor, local and regional authorities and electronic networks. This kind of alliance has already borne fruit in India where private sector and academia have collaborated to provide access to ICTS for remote women (infochangeIndia, 2004)

Delivery Strategies

Available evidence indicate that reaching women through ICTS require certain procedures and strategies. COL and UNESCO (2002) have identified the following :-

Legal procedures

There are legal procedures which need to be followed to ensure smooth operations . These include:

This is important because in many countries ownership of mass communication technologies are quite restricted by the authorities for fear of misuse or engaging in unlawful activities.

General Conclusions

This paper has focused on the challenges and potentials of ICTs for rural women. From the discussion It has become clear that despite great advancement in the field of ICTS serious geographical and gender disparities still exist. There is , however, encouraging evidence that these disparities can be reduced in rural areas if certain strategies are employed. These include creating awareness among both men and women in rural areas on the importance of women accessing and using these ICTs. There is also need to develope the so called Pro-poor technologies to enhance access and affordability of these ICT's among rural women. Innovative approaches such as linkage of old and new technologies should be encouraged. ICTS, whether new or old must address pertinent needs of women. Emphasis should be on their relevance and not sophistication. It is equally important to note that development of women in rural areas cannot take place unless infrastructure, especially communication network is improved in these areas .Lastly, collaboration between private and public sectors should be enhanced to increase access of ICTs to rural women by offering both financial and technical assistance.