Women Empowerment through ICT4D Participation, Vulnerability, & Future Dr. Faheem Hussain Assistant Professor, Department of Technology and Society, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, SUNY Korea [email protected]
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Women Empowerment through ICT4D Participation, Vulnerability, & Future
Dr. Faheem HussainAssistant Professor, Department of Technology and Society,
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, SUNY Korea
My Work: Women and ICT
Department of Technology and Society, SUNY Korea, focuses on the applications and possible impacts of ICT and other technology in society, related policy perspectives
Asian University for Women, my previous working place, is the first liberal arts university for women in South Asia, where I led the ICT program for women from 16 different Asian countries
One of the lead researchers of Ford Foundation sponsored “Gender Empowerment” research in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh- looking into the ICT usage trends for women and related social perceptions
At present, working on Women and Digital Privacy, Social Media
Women & ICT4D: Present State
According to ITU, a global gender gap of 200 million users, in access to the Internet resulted in by the end of 2013 (IT for Change Annual Report, 2013-14)
16% fewer women than men access the Internet in developing countries, compared with only 2% fewer women than men in the developed world
(IT for Change Annual Report, 2013-14)
Value of the mobile phone in expanding women's social linkages However, digital divide is not just about connectivity; it is
about access to and control over information flows (IT for Change Annual Report, 2013-14)
Women & ICT4D: Present State
Empowerment through equitable access Inclusiveness within the global and local knowledge
network Establishment of “own” space, communication Financial and Social Freedom, at home and beyond Political Mobilization and Activism
Online Platforms for Women in Afghanistan
Roya Mahboob (Citadel Software) established an online platform, based on Film Annex, to encourage and train Afghan women to develop Web Videos (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-09/afghan-women-seek-internet-s-virtual-veil-amid-threats.html)
Afghan Women’s Writing Project, a Facebook based initiative to encourage and mentor young women writers (https://www.facebook.com/awwproject/info?tab=page_info)
Different Ministries (Ministry for Communication and Technology, Narcotics, etc.) are focused on including women in their on going and future projects
Online Platforms for Women in Afghanistan
“ICT should be used to get health related, political, or religious information…. and women do not need to take permission to use any of it”..
An Afghan Patriarch
“ICT helps me to know my rights, so that I can speak up the next time I face domestic violence”.. An Afghan Housewife
(Ford Study on Gender Empowerment)
Women in #Shahbag Movement
F. Hussain and M. Mostafa, “Digital Bangladesh- A boon or threat to Digital Freedom?”, Communication Policy Research (CPR) South 2014 Conference by LIRNEasia and Research ICT Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 10-12, 2014.
Women & ICT4D: Present State
Digitally-mediated gender-based violence is on the rise: Mobile phone-based harassment Online stalking on social media platforms Online pornography network Misogyny of online gaming Trolling of feminist sites, activists
Social Media and Governance: Absence of Gender Sensitivity
Government investing in ICT for Development (Escober, 95)
Governments sponsor new media, with 'big switch' control (Wu, 2008)
Peer-production on social media: low capital needs, no central control, no price signalling (Benklar, 2006)
Collaboration seems to be governed by power law (Shirky, 2008)
However, NO gender specific issues on Social Media related policies (if any) in public spheres
Many Governments and Stakeholders are NOT ready
Study on Online Security/Privacy Perception among Bangladesh Youths
Services Very High(%)
High(%)
Medium(%)
Low(%)
Very Low(%)
No Response
(%)
Face-to-Face Communication
52 19.2 22.2 4.6 1.9 13.3
Mobile 25.6 27.9 33.9 5.66 1.3 5.7
Internet (email) 8 14.3 28.2 15.3 9.6 24.6
Internet (social networking)
7.3 10.3 23.9 13.3 9.3 35.9
Land Telephone 2.3 7.3 21.6 12.3 18.6 37.8
Letter (paper based) 5.6 6 4 14.3 33.2 36.9
Perceived Protection of Privacy using Different Communication Options*
*T-Test for Equality of Means found that the respondents have perceived Mobile to be safer than Internet, but no significantly (with P-Value of 0.449 )
Young Women Users are worse off, without much knowledge on Online ViolationsF. Hussain and S. Ullah, “Mobile Communication and Internet in Bangladesh: Is Privacy at Risk for Youth Population?”, Media Watch, Centre for Communication Studies, May, 2013.
Study on Online Security/Privacy Perception among Bangladesh Youths
• A large group of users, especially women, admitted not to have any prior knowledge about the possibilities of their personal information being shared among individuals or via service providers• The numbers are significantly bigger in mobile telephony (46.2 % at
individual level and 51.2 % at the service provider level)
• For many of the concept of “Third Party” was also very new • They admitted of not thinking about the possibilities of information
being shared without their knowledge before, especially in terms of social networking sites
What is a “Third Party”?
F. Hussain and S. Ullah, “Mobile Communication and Internet in Bangladesh: Is Privacy at Risk for Youth Population?”, Media Watch, Centre for Communication Studies, May, 2013.
The Future?
• ICT will be omnipresent – Big Data, Internet of Things, Open Governance
• Ensuring “Access to Information” for women is NOT ENGOUGH
• In addition to “Net Neutrality”, we want a truly accessible, ICT enabled environment with “Gender Neutrality”
• Need to guarantee: “Effective Action on Information”
Scopes for Capacity Building
• (Obvious Ones!) Government Mechanisms and Private sectors alike need to be evolved and be involved– Better flexibility, Transparency
• Inclusive policies and applications, ensuring effective (not symbolic) women participation and empowerment – In public, private, and academic sectors– Active inclusion of women in ICT Education
• Employment facilitation
– Benchmarking Gender Sensitivity
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