Developing countries are increasingly using information and communication technologies. They potentially enhance skills and promote employment, empowerment and economic growth. It is increasingly recognised, however, that the impact of these technologies do not benefit women as they do not take men and women’s traditional and social roles into consideration.

Gender equality and empowerment is a key United Nations Millennium Development Goal, both as an end in itself and as a means of economic and social development. India’s software boom and women’s important role in its information and communication technologies (ICT) workforce means that there is considerable interest in the role of ICTs in achieving this aim for women. A comparative study by the Institute for Development Policy and Management and Manchester Metropolitan University investigates the effects of two different approaches, looking at two ICT-based projects operating within a similar social context in Kerala in South India.

The first initiative is the state’s creation of a technology park for over 50 private information technology and service companies involved in software-related activities, employing about 5,000 professionals. This approach is market-orientated and does not take gender into account, in that the role of women has not been considered specifically but skilled women can expect to benefit. However, as the industry is highly market-based and competitive, requiring frequent travel and continuous hours, traditional family and social responsibilities appear to prevent women from progressing.

The second case study, Kudumbashree, is an innovative poverty reduction programme for women, using ICTs as the basis of some of its ventures, including training, hardware assembly/maintenance, data entry and digitisation. This state-led approach focuses strongly on gender and has been found to positively influence women’s income opportunities and help empower women.

The study highlighted a number of lessons from the two projects including:

• Market-based initiatives such as the technology park tend to attract the forces of competition and globalisation. As such, they readily benefit women in the short term, supplying them with employment and salaries.
• The workload and flexibility requirements actually reinforce gender inequalities, however, even when a high proportion of women are employed.
• Although the state-initiated Kudumbashree venture earned the women a lower salary in the short term, it paid off in terms of sustainability and stability.
• To some extent initiatives such as Kudumbashree can help to break down political, social and institutional bases of gender inequality.

The question remains, however, of whether a highly interventionist approach such as Kudumbashree is sustainable in the long term. However, the study showed a notable difference in the gender-related impacts of the two approaches despite their existence in more or less the same contexts. This suggests that other ICT initiatives can learn a lesson about the value of gender-focused interventionist approaches:

• Approaches that claim to give women equal opportunity on the basis of skills can reinforce gender inequalities because of their requirements for flexibility and workloads.
• ICT initiatives that target women can allow them to break out of the traditional stereotypes of unequal power and responsibility, while they determine flexibility requirements that are not detrimental to other aspects of their lives.

Source(s):
‘ICT Initiatives, Women and Work in Developing Countries: Reinforcing or Changing Gender Inequalities in South India?’, Shoba Arun, Richard Heeks and Sharon Morgan, Institute for Development Policy and Management Working Paper Series, Paper No. 20, 2004 Full document.

Funded by: Department for International Development

id21 Research Highlight: 19 October 2005

Further Information:
Shoba Arun
Department of Sociology
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester M15 6LL
UK

Tel: +44 (0)161 2473439
Fax: +44 (0)161 2476321
Contact the contributor: s.arun@mmu.ac.uk

Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Richard Heeks
Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM)
University of Manchester
Precinct Centre
Manchester M13 9QH
UK

Tel: +44 (0)161 2752800
Fax: +44 (0)161 2738829
Contact the contributor: Richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk

Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, UK

Sharon Morgan
IDPM
University of Manchester
Precinct Centre
Manchester M13 9QH
UK

Tel: +44 (0)161 2752800
Fax: +44 (0)161 2738829
Contact the contributor: morgansh_2003@yahoo.co.uk

Other related links:
'Women, ICTs and rural development'

'Women’s voices get a boost: accessing technologies for empowerment'

'Overcoming rural India’s lack of communications infrastructure'

'India’s Information Technology Act hinders the development of e-commerce'