Gender and ICTs: A Comparative Analysis of Three Cases in India

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Gender and ICTsA Comparative Analysis of Three
Cases in India

• Satoko Nadamoto
• Gender Institute
• LSE
• S.Nadamoto_at_lse.ac.uk

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Country Data India

• Capital New Delhi
• 1947 Independent from Great Britain
• Area 3.3 million
• Population 1.1 billion
• Population growth 1.5
• Language 18 major and
• more than 1,000 minor
• Religion Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism,
  Buddhism, Jainism
• GDP (US) 599.0 billion
• GDP per capita 2,900
• GDP growth 8.2
• (2003)

(CIA, 2004)
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Gender Inequality in India

• Population
• Birth Rates
• 1.05 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate
• Female 9.5
• Male 8.7
• Health
• Maternal mortality
• 540 per 100,000 live births
• HIV/AIDS
• 1.5 million women of 3.7 million of the infected
  adults
• Increase rate for women 47
• (World Press, 2001 UNAIDS, 2000)

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Gender Inequality in India 2

• Education
• Literacy
• Women 55
• Men 68
• Enrollment Ratio in the primary school
• Women 64
• Men 78
• Income
• Women US1,442
• Men US3,820
• (UNICEF, 2004 HDR 2004, UNDP)

Source Census of India, 1991
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ICTs in India

• Rapid growth since the late 1980s
• Telephone mainlines 3.8
• Mobile 0.6
• Radio 12
• TV 6.1
• PC 5.8/1000 people
• Internet Uses 7 million
• (World Bank, 2003)

(World Bank, 2003)
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Women and ICT in India

• Causes
• Female literacy rate 55 (68 for Men)
• Female student of Engineering 1
• Female tertiary students studying natural
  science 30.4
• (UNICEF, 2004 and UNDP, 2001)

• Gender Digital Divide
• 23 of Internet uses
• 37 of the employees in the ICT sector
• 20 of the employees in the software industry
• (UNDP, 2001 and S. Arun T. Arun, 2002)

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Concept of Empowerment

• Resource
• Material resource
• Economic resource
• Human resource
• Social resource
• Information
• Communication
• Agency
• Achievement
• Higher education
• Better health, etc.
• (Kabeer, 1999 and 2003)

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Research Questions

• In what ways can ICTs increase womens access and
  control over resources?
• In what ways can ICTs enhance womens agency?
• What can women achieve by using ICTs?

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Case Studies in India

• Nari Raksha Samti (NRS) in Delhi
• Indira Soochna Shakti in Chhattisgarh
• Nabanna Networking Rural Women and Knowledge in
  Baduria, West Bengal

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1. 1 Nari Raksha Samti (NRS)

• A womens NGO in Delhi
• History 50 years
• Facility 20 centres in Delhi
• Target Poor women including dowry victims and
  ethnic minority
• Provide skilled base training

www.narirakshasamiti.com
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1. 2 NRSs ICT Projects

• ICT training to poor women
• Since 2002
• A small computer centre
• Trains 250 young women including 60 dowry victims
• More than 29 women were employed by Datamantion.
• Online complaint system
• Dowry
• Family dispute

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1.3 Analysis of NRS

• Resource
• Social resource
• Information (Human right, etc.)
• Communication
• Human resource
• ICT skills
• Agency
• Increase of bargaining power
• Achievement
• Employment in the ICT sector
• Increase of Income

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2.1 Indira Soochna Shakti

• Purpose Empowerment of an entire generation of
  women by free ICT training
• Target All 250,000 girls at all the high schools

(ISS, 2004)
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2.2 Indira Soochna Shakti

• Free ICT training to 46,273 girls at 662 (42)
  high schools in 2001
• Free ICT training to 130,000 girls in all 1605
  high schools in 2002

2001
(ISS, 2004)
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2.3 ISS Chhattisgarh Online information for
Citizen Empowerment (CHOiCE)

• Purpose Provide information-enabled services to
  local people
• Pilot phase 246 of all 9,129 villages
• Networked community computers in villages
• Citizen Database
• Village Resource Database
• ISS girls provide information services

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2.4 Analysis of ISS

• Resource
• Social resource
• Information
• Communication
• Human resource
• ICT skills
• Agency (CHOiCE)
• Technology resource person
• Community leaders
• Achievement
• (Employment in the ICT sector)
• (Increase of Income)

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3.1 Nabanna Networking Rural Women and Knowledge

• A joint project of UNESCO, National Informatics
  Centre and the Baduria Municipality
• Purpose to encourage information and knowledge
  exchange amongst the women of the Municipality,
  overcoming the barrier of poor communications by
  growing a network of information agents and
  information groups (UNESCO, 2004).

(UNESCO, 2004)
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3.2 Nabanna 5 Centres

• Baduria (Main hub)
• Two desktops
• A printer/scanner
• An Internet facility
• Rudrapur
• Taragunia
• Arbelia
• Punda
• A desktop and
• A dot matrix printer

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3.3 Nabanna Structure

• Information Agents
• Receive ICT training twice per week
• Maintain regular diaries
• Information Group
• Meet on a weekly basis
• Bi-monthly Bengali-language newsletters

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3.4 Nabanna Participants

• Information Agents
• 20-40 years of age
• Poor female students and housewives
• Good education

• Information Group
• Housewives in the neighborhood
• Average age 45

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3.5 Nabanna Training

• Basic computer skills
• MS-Office
• DTP applications
• Data input
• eNRICH (a software for knowledge management)

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3.6 Analysis of NRS

• Resource
• Social resource
• Information
• Income generating opportunities
• Specific education subjects
• Microfinance
• Health
• Communication
• Human resource
• ICT skills

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3.6 Analysis of NRS Agency

• Women have become able to raise their voice
  within their family.
• Women have become respected by their husband,
  in-laws, parents and other family members.
• Women have become considered as knowledgeable
  people in their community.
• Women have become able to approach the job market
  with greater confidence than before.
• Women have become more creative after learning
  programs like Paintbrush in Windows XP.
• (UNESCO, 2004).

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3.6 Analysis of NRS

• Agency
• Increase of bargaining power
• Increase of negotiating power
• Achievement
• Personal empowerment
• Solidarity among the women in the community

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Observations

• ICTs enable women to increase their income
  without enhancing the gender division of labor.
  (IRS)
• ICTs have more impact when it connects to womens
  specific needs such as health and microfinance.
  (Nabanna)
• The poorest of the poor women are excluded from
  the benefits of ICTs.
• It is difficult to assess womens empowerment
  through the use of ICTs.

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Recommendations

• Develop the strategy to include the poorest of
  the poor women in the benefits of ICTs.
• Apply inter-sectoral approach for ICTs for
  development
• Develop the methods to assess womens empowerment
  and the impact of ICTs for development