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Indu Capoor
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Prayas Abhinav
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ICTs do have the potential of becoming an important element of our methodologies and toolkits but we will reserve our enthusiasm and optimism till we see the emergence of gender-sensitive, flexible and accommodative programmes.
ICTs: touching human lives
The growth of the Internet, telecommunications and satellite-based communication has meant that communication has not only become inexpensive but also uncomplicated. This communication revolution has also fostered a more democratic and non-hierarchical paradigm of information, both for the provider and the end user. Intriguingly, the technology is developing much faster than the regulations, laws and accepted practices that seek to keep its use in check. Today, there are movements on the Internet, which resound with the values of social justice, equality, empowerment, sharing, commons and democracy. The Free Software movement, the Free Culture effort, numerous collectives and co-operatives, the Wikipedia (Free) Encyclopaedia project are just a few instances of how the Internet is playing a positive and constructive role in our lives.
At CHETNA (Centre for Health, Education, Training & Nutrition Awareness) we have often participated in discussions and forums where the transformational role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in development has been generalised and uncritically appreciated. There is no denying that ICTs have altered the lives of certain groups. Most urban communities for instance have an increased access to information, are more connected to the distant worlds and hence are more attuned to the opportunities available in a networked world. This connectivity has come in a number of ways that include the Internet, mobile phones, the mass media etc.
Unfortunately, this reality holds true only for a miniscule percentage of educated urban men and women. Even amongst the users, how many of us can claim to really use the tools we have to their optimal potential? We do not really have a need-base for so many of the technological possibilities we flaunt.
There is a need to reflect upon the assumptions about technological awareness; use, acceptance and relevance of these technologies for users coming from varying backgrounds. As an organisation, CHETNA has been working towards creating awareness, sustained interest and involvement with technologies and has successfully brought about significant behavioural change among diverse groups of rural communities for the past 25 years.
Our experience
We have worked extensively with the disadvantaged communities in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and several other Indian states and have created awareness and education programmes for health, nutrition, hygiene, reproductive and sexual health, etc. by preparing, using and promoting communication material in local languages. We have created innovative need-based, situation specific, gender-sensitive field-tested educational material like aprons, flip charts, posters and other innovative educational material. These materials have had a significant impact in overcoming the barriers of existing limitations of low literacy and poor access to modern technology.
Women across India have a lower level of literacy compared to the men. They have very little leisure or spare time to benefit from ICTs, due to economic and domestic pressures. They have multiple burdens of household and commercial work and reproduction. Often, they even have to seek permission from their spouse or other family members for going out of the house, which further limits their access to facilities in their areas.
Without having a holistic idea of the needs and limitations of the disadvantaged communities, that we are helping, how can we expect our efforts to have an impact?
For instance, we found that radio was a far better medium of reaching out to the marginalised communities and the women members in particular, than the television. In most of the communities, the television set was placed at the house of rich/powerful members thereby hindering an equal access for all. This however was not the case with radio.
Indu capoor box
| A
lens for scanning ICT projects from a gender
perspective |
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A
lens for scanning ICT projects from a gender
perspective
Access:
Do
women and girls have
access to the ICT based project? Access can be examined in context of
these
factors:
- Language:
Where
is the project going to be deployed? Does the project take care to
ensure that all the information, instructions and interfaces are in a
locally understood language? Has care been taken to keep the language
simple, non-technical and common? Have any provisions been made for
arranging translations into other languages and dialects of the region?
Has care been taken to keep as much of the communication visual or
graphical and suitable for low functional literacy levels
(audio/video)?
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Availability: Is the site of project deployment
accessible by all, irrespective of their gender? Is the site open at
all times which are convenient to everyone in the community? Is it at a
convenient distance and a location that is generally accessible to the
women?
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Cost: What
does it cost to be a part of the project? Is this cost affordable to
the community has it been set keeping in mind their existing
livelihoods and their priorities of expenditure? What kind of
infrastructure is required to execute, maintain and sustain the
project? Is it possible to arrange this at a reasonable cost?
Time:
How much time does it take to
plan and execute the project? How much time does it require daily? Is
it
possible for the community to contribute that much?
Need-base:
Does
the project make
life easier for the users? Does it help them in enhancing their
education and
knowledge base and/or in securing livelihoods? Does it help them in
lessening
the domestic pressures? Does it induce male members of the family to
share some
of the domestic responsibilities?
Outreach:
How many people is the
project reaching out to? Is it cost-effective? Does the project make
active
efforts to reach out to the community and actively involve them in the
project?
Impact:
Does
it lead to the
empowerment of women and girls who participate in it? We define
empowerment as
a process, which results in a more equitable distribution of power and
resources among men and women. |
Women and technology
Currently, access to communication technologies like the computer and the television is either unaffordable or male-dominated and therefore out of the reach of most of the poor women.
The existing scenario is bleak in terms of worthy investments being made towards inclusive projects that use the ICTs meaningfully for dissemination of information, education and empowerment. There are a few organisations, which have developed, cheap, approachable and gender-sensitive training programmes for the rural community. Yet, understanding the apparent value of investing in ICTs is difficult for a lot of people.
In her paper Needs and Potential Contribution of Information for Building Womens Capacity and Factors Affecting Their Access, Anoja Wickramasinghe points out that Womens rights to information and technology are less recognised because the ideology behind womens roles and responsibilities has enabled technocrats to use the patriarchal system vigorously. We have to ensure that existing inequalities are not mirrored if not widened in the access to ICTs.
Information generation and the promotion of ICTs has been linked to entrepreneurship and employment generation. This leads to their commercialisation. Investors control opportunities in commercial ventures. Since women from the disadvantaged and marginalized communities do not have any financial freedom, this limits their participation in such projects. Existing projects do not always provide optimal working conditions for women.
Increasing the access to ICTs and promoting their use is a political issue. It has to be looked at from the viewpoints of gender and caste biases. Some young women and girls have adapted to these demanding technologies and have coped well with the changes. But we still need to promote such mechanisms, which allow more and more women and girls to do so.
We need to keep into our view technologies that already exist and that might be more practical to use in the existing infrastructural scenario of the developing world. Expecting the attractiveness and long-term cost-effectiveness of technology to out-weigh all its limitations is neither very meaningful nor very useful.
It has been proven conclusively that just setting up the infrastructure does not ensure that communities will accept and use the communication facilities provided to them. The quality and relevance of the content is still an issue. Content which is informative, educational, entertaining and gender-sensitive needs to be produced, published and publicised at a quicker pace. More often than not western content has been translated and adapted and the development and production of new content has not been prioritised enough.
The issues ICTs can address
ICTs can empower women to:
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Access and share knowledge resources
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Network, form group and identify synergies between groups working towards similar issues.
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Create livelihood opportunities
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Gain a voice, create awareness about their rights and abuse of their rights
Integrating gender into ICT project planning and evaluation
Certain important points should be kept in mind while developing gender sensitive ICT programmes and projects, so that maximum benefit can be harnessed.
It is important to design, develop and popularise ICTs in gender-sensitive and accommodative ways. We should ensure that gender stereotypes are eliminated from ICT programmes throughout. This means that ICT policies and programmes need to adopt a more holistic view. They need to take into consideration the existing social patterns, limitations and problems which women are facing and are fighting against. CHETNA has conceptualised a Gender Lens for ICTs (see box), which may be helpful in this effort. Womens organisations should be invited to participate in the policy formulation, design, implementation and review of ICT-based programmes and schemes.
The government and NGOs should invest enough time, effort and resources in designing gender-sensitive IT training and skill-development programmes and content.
Existing ICT projects should be reviewed from a gender perspective. Both men and women should be involved in the process of awareness generation as gender-bias involves both men and women.
Conclusion
ICTs do have the potential of becoming an important element of our methodologies and toolkits but we will reserve our enthusiasm and optimism till we see the emergence of gender-sensitive, flexible and accommodative programmes.
In the meanwhile, we should go back to our drawing boards, visit the field, start listening again and not get carried away with our enthusiasm, which can potentially disturb and discourage meaningful efforts, which have already justified their existence through their ability to communicate, to touch people and to effect a fundamental change.
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Author:Indu Capoor is the Founder Director of CHETNA, India, and Prayas Abhinav is a writer, visual artist and independent ICT consultant.
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