Measuring Infostates for Development:

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• Measuring Infostates for Development
• Panel discussion on gender-specific data and
  indicators on ICT use and needs
• Women in the Information Society
• Statistical evidence and analysis of the gender
  digital divide
• Heidi Ertl and Heather Dryburgh, Statistics
  Canada
• November 17, 2005
• Tunis, Tunisia

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WOMEN IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

• ICTs and gender is a new component of the Digital
  Divide project
• Project rationale and objectives
• Structure of the chapter
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Highlights of findings

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• Project rationale
• Call for reliable and comparable gender-specific
  indicators on ICTs (WSIS Plan of Action)
• Scarcity of gender-related ICT measurements and
  analyses
• scope of coverage and degree of detail
• Need to quantify gender digital divide

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• Project objectives
• Construct pilot database
• Extensive compilation of sex-disaggregated
  statistical data on ICTs and gender
• Dealing with limitations and challenges
• Conduct analysis
• Quantitative analysis supported by the database
• Analysis of a qualitative nature to begin to
  address outcomes and impacts of ICTs for women

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• Structure of the chapter
• Quantitative analysis - what do the numbers tell
  us?
• Supported by the database and attempts to close
  existing measurement gaps
• Contains statistical evidence and analysis of
  womens experiences in both developed and
  developing countries
• Magnitude and evolution of gender digital divide
  with respect to
• Access and patterns of use
• ICT literacy, education and skills
• ICT employment
• Other digital divides

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• Qualitative analysis
• Take into account information of a qualitative
  nature related to individual country
  circumstances, social norms, histories, cultures,
  etc
• Focus on developing regions of Africa, Latin
  America and Asia
• Analysis based on established framework of gender
  issues in ICT

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• Elements of the gender digital divide
• Do women have
• Access to ICTs?
• Use of the information and knowledge generated in
  the Information Society?
• Input into the design, development and
  application of ICTs?
• The benefits associated with the opportunities
  and resources of the Information Society?

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• Highlights
• Womens participation in the Information Society,
  particularly in the developing countries of the
  world, lags behind that of men

Exposure to mass media by sex (), Ethiopia, 2000
Source Central Statistical Authority, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
9

• Mobile penetration by sex, selected African
  countries, 2004

of individuals
Source SAfrica E-Access and Usage Index,
Research ICT Africa!
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• In many developing countries, gender gaps that
  accompany the introduction of newer ICTs are
  dramatic
• Less than 10 of Internet users in Guinea are
  women
• Less than 20 in Nepal
• Less than 25 in India

• But gender gaps persist even in developed
  countries with higher ICT penetration rates

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Home access to ICTs by sex, selected Scandinavian
countries, 2002
female / male ratio ()
Source Statistics Norway, Nordic Information
Society Statistics 2002
12
Selected ICT indicators by sex, Taiwan, China,
2004

Source Taiwan Network Information Centre,
Internet Broadband Usage in Taiwan
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• At the same time, some countries with very low
  overall Internet penetration do not experience a
  gender divide
• In Mongolia, the Philippines and Thailand, female
  Internet penetration exceeds male
• What can be said about the relationship between
  the overall digital divide and the gender digital
  divide?

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Source ITU, World Telecommunication Indicators
2004 and selected national sources
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• Thus
• Closing the digital divide will not automatically
  close the gender digital divide
• Even where the access and use divides are closed,
  other gender divides remain with respect to
• Location and patterns of use
• Literacy, education and skills
• ICT employment and occupations

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• Location and patterns of use
• Do women and men use ICTs differently?
• Girls at school use the Internet as much as boys
• Women are less frequent and less intense users of
  ICTs
• Women use ICTs for a less diverse range of
  activities
• However
• Women and men use email similarly, and
• Women are much more likely than men to use the
  Internet to search for, or use, health or medical
  information or services

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• Within-country differences gender gaps in ICT
  use vary depending on the ICT
• Across-country differences some countries
  clearly do better on all ICTs than others

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Use of selected ICTs, selected OECD countries,
2003
female / male ratio
Source Statistics Canada and OECD,
International Adult Literacy and Life Skills
Survey 2005
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Use of selected ICTs, selected OECD countries,
2003
female / male ratio
BERMUDA HIGH-USE
Source Statistics Canada and OECD,
International Adult Literacy and Life Skills
Survey 2005
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Use of selected ICTs, selected OECD countries,
2003
female / male ratio
ITALY LOW-USE
Source Statistics Canada and OECD,
International Adult Literacy and Life Skills
Survey 2005
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• To better understand why men use ICTs more
  frequently, spend more time, and engage in more
  diverse uses we need to know
• Cultural and social expectations
• Womens involvement in conceptualization, design
  and implementation of ICTs

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• Literacy, education and skills
• Do women have the education and training
  required to
• use ICTs effectively?
• Literacy What are the implications for access
  to ICTs?
• Education What is the link between education
  and ICTs?
• Science and Technology Education Are women
  gaining a voice in conceptualization and design?

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• Womens literacy rates alone are not good
  predictors of either the percentage female in
  tertiary education, or the percentage female of
  ICT users.
• The advantages associated with women having
  access to tertiary education tend to also mean
  they have access to ICTs, but not always.

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• Two stories
• Literacy rates are for the total population
• Tertiary education is available to a select few,
  depending on class, race, government policy and
  other factors

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• South Africa
• Internet penetration less than 10
• Percent female using the Internet about half
• Literacy rates Women 4 points lower than men
• Tertiary education enrolments Women higher

• Bulgaria
• Internet penetration about 10
• Percent female using the Internet about 10
• Literacy rates Women and men equal
• Tertiary education enrolments Women slightly
  higher

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• Mongolia
• Internet penetration around 2
• Percent female using the Internet highest
• Literacy rates Women and men equal
• Tertiary education enrolments Women 1.5 times
  higher

• Yemen
• Internet penetration about 12
• Percent female using the Internet about 14
• Literacy rates Women 28 vs men 70
• Tertiary education enrolments Women less than
  one third

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• Are women equal partners in technological
  development and technology governance?
• Input into the problems technologies address
• Input into the way technology is integrated into
  society
• Science and technology education
• Science and technology work

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• Three main findings on education in ST
• The percentage female graduating with S T
  education is low
• This is true whether countries are developing or
  developed
• Where we have trend data, the percentage female
  is declining in about 1/3 of the countries

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Trends in the gender gap in ST graduates,
selected countries, 1993-2003
female / male ratio ()
Source Eurostat
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Women per 100 men enrolled in university science
or engineering, India
Source Department of Education, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, India Notes After
1988 the data are provisional. 1987 to 1991
exclude post-graduates.
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• What about the gender digital divide at the
  workplace?
• Statistics on female access and use of ICT from
  home are not necessarily reliable predictors of
  ICT access and use elsewhere (i.e. the workplace)
• Gender gaps in ICT access and use at work are
  directly impacted by the presence of women in the
  labour market
• Labour force status
• Occupation

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Internet use by sex and labour force status,
Turkey, 2004

Source State Institute of Statistics (Turkey),
ICT Usage Survey on Households and Individuals
2004
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Female Internet subscribers by occupation,
Malaysia, 2002

• Type of occupation is also a key factor
  contributing to gender differences in ICT use

Source MIMOS, The 2002 Internet Subscriber Study
(JARING Internet subscribers)
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• Women account for a lower proportion of
  professional, executive or managerial occupations
• South Africa 15
• Canada 24
• Women are more likely to be occupied as service,
  sales or craft workers

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• Women are underrepresented in ICT employment
• Australia women account for 16 of ICT workers
• India women account for 21 of IT jobs
• Japan women account for 28 of ICT employment
• United States women account for 35 of IT
  workforce
• Women are underrepresented in ICT occupations
• Australia women account for 22 of IT
  occupations
• Canada women account for 25 of IT occupations

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• Womens participation in the Information Society,
  particularly in the developing countries of the
  world, lags behind that of men
• The gender divide cannot simply be expected to
  improve with the overall digital divide
• Cautious optimism on access the divide is
  narrowing
• Few gains and some troubling trends in ST
  education and work
• The country context matters significantly