Supporting Women's Use of Information Technologies for Sustainable Development

Submitted to the Gender and Sustainable Development Unit, IDRC

18 February 1997

Prepared by Sophia Huyer
Women in Global Science and Technology (WIGSAT)
623 Brimley Rd. Grafton, Ontario Canada K0K 2G0
Tel (1-905) 349-9962
Fax (1-905) 349-2066
email: shuyer@wigsat.org

---

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Women in African Society
• Meeting Women's Information Needs
  • International policy statements
  • Women are important contributors to knowledge for development
  • Empowering women through ICTs
• Barriers for Women in Africa to the Full Use of ICTs
• Overcoming Barriers: Women Take Hold of ICTs
  • Overcoming illiteracy
  • Facilitating education and training for women and girls
  • Supporting women's entrepreneurial activities
  • Potential roles for African women's NGOs
  • ICT delivery and access systems
  • Women's time constraints
• Implementing Women-Friendly ICT Systems
• Recommendations and Guidelines
• List of Experts
• References
• Case Studies
  • Setting up networks in francophone Africa: Synergie Genre et Developpement (SYNFEV), Dakar, Senegal
  • Supporting a coalition for reproductive rights: The Reproductive Rights Alliance, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA)
  • Engendering International Trade - Women in the PTA Region: Gender, Science and Development Programme, UN Development Fund for Women
  • Researchers and librarians use ICTs: GENNET, University of Natal; Africa Gender Institute, University of Cape Town
  • Supporting women's networking in Africa: APC Women's Networking Programme
  • African Women and Electronic Mail: The case of WEDNET
  • Empowering women in the information society: Building a Women's Information and Communication Network in South Africa, SANGONet

  ---

  1. Introduction

  The central question of this study concerns African women's use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This includes issues of access, the benefits African women experience and can expect to experience from ICTs, and the role they can and do play in the production and dissemination of information.

  The study is organised into three sections. The first four headings look at the situation of African women vis a vis their social, technological and information contexts. The second section looks at barriers to women's full use of ICTs, and strategies for overcoming those barriers. This section is based on examples of women's experiences and activities. The final section contains guidelines and recommendations for future projects and research to facilitate women's participation in the information society.

  2. Women in African Society

  In assessing and promoting women's access to and use of ICTs in Africa, it is important to understand the gendered nature of the social, economic, policy and technology systems which frame opportunities for women. Women's needs for information are also structured according to their gendered roles and responsibilities, which in turn influence their use of and response to ICTs.

  Women's place in African society is markedly distinct from that of men in almost all parts of life. Views of women's capability, purpose and needs are strongly held, defining the boundaries of what women expect of themselves and what they are expected by the rest of society to achieve. Their purpose is generally defined to consist of marriage, reproduction and domestic" duties. Further, in many parts of Africa, women move away from their families upon marriage while men stay at home with their wives and continue to contribute to the family economy. Boys and men are therefore more highly valued, and more investment is made in their education, health, and future income-earning potential. It is likely that more investment is made emotionally in the boys as well, leading to a lesser sense of self worth on the part of girls. As a result, girls and women take on second-class status in the home, developing fewer skills used outside the home, setting more limited goals for themselves, and gaining less access to education and health care. For this reason, a strongly articulated issue for African women is the need to change traditional attitudes, and for women to recognise within themselves the capability of transcending the limits socially ascribed to them.

  The colonialist and post-colonialist focus on the cash economy marginalises women, whose triples roles in reproduction, subsistence production and community management are not valued quantitatively or economically. Despite the critical importance of women's contributions to the African economy, women's work as a result is not visible" or recognised. Unmarried women who earn income generally turn it over to male members of the family. As a result, women are generally poorer than their brothers and husbands, and those who lead households without male heads are the poorest of all up to 1/3 of households in developing countries.

  Rural women in Africa are predominantly illiterate, being taken out of school at an early age to save school fees, to marry, to ease their mother's workload or because of pregnancy which often occurs at an early age. In Guinea-Bissau, for example, 76% of women are illiterate. Those who continue in school tend to follow traditional or socially accepted streams for women which are non-scientific and non-technological, since science, technology and maths are generally considered incompatible with their reproductive and domestic sphere of their responsibilities and therefore inappropriate for women.

  The effects of lower paid, lower skilled employment opportunities, lack of recognition of the triple roles of women, less autonomy and lower status in the household are exacerbated by the increasing hardships of environmental degradation and the cutting of social services by structural adjustment programs. As a result women's time is a critical resource in short supply. Any systems or activities meant to improve their lives and increase their empowerment must be perceived by women to save time or increase their efficiency rather than add to the already overly long list of activities in a day. The daily schedule for these activities must also be flexible, in view of the strategies women use to accomplish their tasks. These include multitasking, cooperation with networks of women, and the breaking up of tasks into smaller discrete units.

  The representation of women's concerns in national, regional and international policy is low, in Africa as elsewhere. Women are poorly represented in policy making bodies at all levels and in most sectors of African society. National governments' records of implementation of gender equity in national policies are generally poor; while governments have failed to follow up on many of the policies they signed on to in international conventions and treaties. Work to address these issues by women's NGOs and other advocacy groups is impeded by lack of communication between various levels and among different sectors of governments.

  3. Meeting Women's Information Needs

  The importance of information and of technologies to transmit and disseminate information for development in Africa is well recognised. However, the issues discussed above should make clear that access for women to ICTs cannot be assumed to "naturally" occur when non gender- differentiated approaches and technologies are implemented. In fact, as noted by the IDRC Gender and Information Working Group, most of the positive effects of the 'information revolution' have bypassed women." There has been little research done on women's information needs and access to appropriate information in developing countries. While this is changing, the 'information highway' is still predominantly male-oriented, and often a forum for gender discrimination, intimidation and even harassment. The profound, gendered implications of ICTs for both men and women in employment, education, training, and other productive and personal development areas of life mean that women need encouragement and support to take their place in the information revolution. For example, the concentration of women in clerical ICT work does not translate farther up the ICT hierarchies. What will the need for increased technical and operational skill levels mean for women's employment in ICTs in the future? Studies show that men continue to crowd out women's access to the training required for higher skilled work. On the other hand, women in Africa are engaging in formal and informal entrepreneurial activities on a large scale: There is no doubt that women are the main economic force in developing countries." As economies become more and more information-driven, the issues of women's access to inproduce and disseminate it will be increasingly important to Africa overall.

  The field of information and communication constitutes an increasingly significant element of science and technology (S&T), and will increasingly influence the content and mechanisms in developing countries for education in S&T, communications, and influence the creation of communities for learning, interaction and participation in community, national and international life.

  As identified by the IDRC Gender and Information Group, the critical information issues for women are

  1. type of information - what kind, access to it, and gender-consciousness
  2. information technology process - availability of technologies to women, their ease of use, policy processes around these, and the effects on women. Active involvement of women in the identification and definition of their information needs, and in the choice of mechanisms and processes to meet these needs is critical for their productive participation in production and dissemination of information as well as definition of and access to the information they need.

  Viewed in this light, access to information can be seen as a central empowerment issue. Control over the kinds of information they need and produce – communications – is a fundamental aspect of empowerment for women, as is the ability to organise and mobilise for their concerns.

  3.1 International policy statements

  Equitable access to ICT technology and the autonomy to receive and produce the information relevant to their concerns and perspectives are therefore critical issues for women. Recent important international policy documents have recognised the gender implications of the new technologies. The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women states that:

  Women should be empowered by enhancing their skills, knowledge and access to information technology. This will strengthen their ability to combat negative portrayals of women internationally and to challenge instances of abuse of power of an increasingly important industry...Women therefore need to be involved in decision making regarding the development of the new technologies in order to participate fully in their growth and impact.

  The Platform calls for increased access and participation of women to expression and decision making in the media and ICTs, in order to overcome negative portrayals and stereotypes of women in media and communications, and to encourage the presentation of balanced, non- stereotyped and diverse images of women.

  Despite the conception that women engage in solely domestic activities which require a lower level of skill and innovation, NGOs and policy bodies are beginning to recognise and highlight the knowledge, innovation and abilities possessed by women.

  The recent Association for Progressive Communications (APC) Africa Strategy Meeting in Johannesburg identified four priority theme areas: supporting electronic networks, promoting strategic use of information and communication technologies among partner communities, developing information content and tools, lobbying and advocacy. While its recommendations do not focus solely on women, the importance of supporting women's participation in these areas is clearly stated as an important issue for the "Africa Information Society."

  The Report of the Gender Working Group of the UN Commission on S&T for Development, which was unanimously ratified by the Commission, highlighted the gender dimension of S&T development planning and implementation; and emphasised the centrality of women's technological activities, as practised in subsistence agriculture, natural resource management, health care, and entrepreneurial activities, to sustainable and equitable development.

  The Gender Working Group Report further recognises the importance of women's participation and control over ICTs for their work in the formal sector and in improving business efficiency of women in the informal sector.

  3.2 Women are important contributors to knowledge for development

  Women's needs with respect to ICTs, then, do not concern only access to education and training that will support their participation, but the social and policy acknowledgement that what women already do is technology, appropriate and worthy of recognition, and, further, an important resource for development.

  Support of women's existing technology activities, recognition of their role as possessors of most of the indigenous knowledge in developing countries, and support of their potential for contributions to S&T are critical to community development. Reasons for this include the benefits of taking advantage of a valuable resource for development, equity and recognition of the rights of women to equal access to personal and professional development, and benefitting from the skills and innovation that emerge from women's perspectives and responsibilities. Surveys of women innovators in Kenya and the Philippines show that women's inventions tend to have direct application to improving family and community wellbeing or increasing efficiency. Examples include a power tiller built to women's physical specifications and their agricultural practices, an improved cloth diaper, improved diagnostic kit for leishmaniasis, and a fireless cooker.

  It becomes clear that an important task for the new information technologies is not only to allow women to gain information but to disseminate the information they already possess and generate.

  3.3 Empowering women through ICTs

  Communications technologies are important for the distribution of alternate, balanced and equitable portrayals of women and their potential. They are also important for facilitating analysis of women's situation and developing active strategies to improve that situation. Karen Banks of GreenNet makes the point that women's ICT activities take on a dynamic of their own...that is, the activity is more of a movement, gathering momentum supported by a network of peers utilising ICTs for communication, coordination and information and experience sharing." They help women to develop confidence and experience in expressing their viewpoints publicly by allowing space for experimentation and enabling them to find allies across communities, nations and regions. Two examples illustrate this: a woman in South Africa, recently working on a campaign for women's reproductive and health rights, posted a message to the APC africa.women mailing list concerning campaigns and information from other African countries. Women from two other African countries responded with information on precedent legislation which could help the advocacy campaign in South Africa. In another case, a Senegalese woman, unable to find data locally on the number of women Ministers in African governments, contacted the international APC women's network through its mailing list. A woman in Geneva with access to UN agency information was able to fax relevant information to Senegal, so that her colleague was able to use this information to support advocacy concerning women's participation in African governments.

  Other advantages of ICTs for women include the much lower cost of publication, once the initial financial investment is made, which encourages women to articulate their views publicly. The new kind of communication space which ICTs introduce is decentralised, de- hierarchicalised and allows the instantaneous 'registration' of many voices and viewpoints. The result can be a hybridised, genuinely integrated product, with possibilities for new kinds of discussion. ICTs are allowing the development of alternative modes of communicating and acting which go beyond rhetoric into the exploration of new models for action.

  The explosion of electronic communication among women around the world in the run-up to the Beijing conference is an example of the use of ICTs by women as a tool for information dissemination, communication and organisation. World Wide Web sites set up to disseminate information on the Conference saw 158,722 requests for information before the conference alone. Email distribution took place through listservs (Beijing-95 and Beijing-Conf), electronic conferences set up by the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), and the International Women's Tribune Centre newsletter, Globalnet. These fora encouraged communication and information-sharing among hundreds of thousands of women around the world. A notable example of the role of ICTs in facilitating women's global lobbying occurred as a response to attempts by the Chinese organisers to restrict and control the access of NGO Forum participants to the official governmental conference; and to restrict the entry of certain groups into China. The power of the immediate global response of women to these and other restrictions was acknowledged by the Secretary-General of the UN, who agreed to oversee negotiations with the Chinese hosts on the concerns expressed by women about the Conference organisation. In addition the organisers agreed not only to back down on some of their more restrictive policies but also to facilitate communication between the NGO Forum and the Government conference.

  Aside from strengthening women's voice, ICTs can benefit women in other ways. They can facilitate participation among women in different sectors and in different regions. They can provide the information that women need to improve their own wellbeing and that of their families, and to more efficiently fulfil their triple roles. The introduction of computers into offices has improved the quality of worklife for women in clerical and administrative occupations. ICTs allow the exchange of views, opinions and news that might not be possible in other media under government censorship and control. They have also been used to protect unpopular leaders in authoritarian countries: through publication of their ideas, up-to-the- minute status reports, they provide a vehicle for international expressions of concern and demonstrate to authoritarian governments that their actions are visible to the world. For example, during apartheid, the reporters of Africa Information Afrique (AIA) in South Africa (many of whom were women) used modems and computers to transmit news reports out of the country.

  4. Barriers for Women in Africa to the Full Use of ICTs

  The barriers to ICT use and access are many in Africa, and well documented. The cost of internet access at all levels makes it inaccessible for the majority of the African population. Computers and modems are imported from industrialised countries with accompanying increases in transportation and duties as well as disadvantageous exchange rates. The cost of online access is prohibitively expensive for most. Further, telephone lines are generally undependable, while the electricity supply can be erratic. Several women's groups in francophone Africa, for example, have had their modems shorted by electrical surges during thunderstorms. Other problems include lack of access to training, lack of technical information, lack of computer parts and repair, high rates of technological obsolescence and lack of human skills and know-how. As well, language is a barrier, especially in francophone Africa, since most training packages, software, and electronic conferences and journals are in English.

  According to workshop participants at a recent APC Africa Strategy Meeting, key issues for ICT development in Africa are:

  • Relevant African information ("content") needs to be produced, managed and delivered appropriately within Africa. The raw information heritage is too valuable to be trusted to others. Almost no resources are directed to this need.
  • Telephone and other communication infrastructure beyond the cities remains under-funded - a problem that liberalization cannot solve. Private investment in de-regulated markets has so far generally concentrated in the major cities.
  • The little international investment that there is in technical training and capacity building - a critical need, especially to bring more women into networking - too often neglects the particular needs of Africa.

  Additionally, cultural attitudes and problems pose challenges for the non-hardware aspects of technology implementation. These include lack of experience in incorporating electronic networks into inter-organisational communication and the tendency to locate communications technologies in Director's or Deputy Director's offices.

  These barriers to ICT use are exacerbated for women as a result of their lower economic and social status, their lack of training and literacy, their concentration in lower-level and entry- level employment, their lack of autonomy, and their lack of time:

  The economic hardships in our countries make it impossible for women, who have to pay school fees for children and to cater for other basic needs, to save money to buy computer hardware, for example. That is why after attending computer courses, if one does not have a computer in the office to practice, then one will lapse back into illiteracy because she cannot afford to buy a computer for herself...many men are already computer literate because they have more time to themselves, access to ICTs and a supportive environment for them to acquire whatever new skill comes up.

  Women professionals also experience difficulties. A woman lawyer in Uganda recognises the importance of international internet connectivity for information, support and advocacy, but has not been able to afford or obtain a separate phone line. To use e-mail, she drives 20 kilometres to the University library, presents a copy of the information to be sent either in manuscript or diskette, and pays one U.S. dollar per page to send a message and 50 cents U.S. per page to receive a message. She has to wait two days to pick up replies, but most e-mails she sends never arrive at their destinations, because the addresses are keyed in by the library personnel, who, she reports, "tend to make mistakes" in keying in the addresses.

  The general and widespread decreased access to education and training experienced by African women has several ramifications for their use of ICTs:

  • High rates of illiteracy among African women are the first obstacle to ICT use.
  • Language issues are intensified for women, with less time, money and access for learning English - the dominant language of ICTs – or for translation of existing information and training documents into French or local languages.
  • Women have less access to basic computer literacy courses, let alone advanced computer training.

  As referred to in many of the examples above, women's time is at a premium. A survey undertaken by the APC found that barriers to ICT use include the issues of information overload and the time consumed in searching for useful, practical information. One respondent commented that in some ways the Internet is a tool for those with lives of leisure."

  Social influences on women's relationship to technology also affect women's attitudes toward ICTs. The tendency to direct women into non-technological professions and responsibilities means that women feel "fear and embarrassment" when dealing with ICTs. A study in Nigeria revealed that women considered the word "technology" to have male connotations, even though "information" seemed more feminine. Some even believed that working with ICTs would drive women mad. These examples indicate a high level of discomfort with new information technologies.

  Women generally are not involved in ICT-based professions in either the North or South, although this is starting to change slowly. When they are employed in this sector, it tends to be in the low-paying and less prestigious positions. Strong hierarchicalisation in institutions and industry mean that because of their lower position, women do not gain access to the computer equipment even if they have more computer ability and need for it. A common complaint at a workshop on 'Women and the Internet" at the NGO Forum in Beijing was that computers and modems tend to go to the (male) Director's office where they remain unused, instead of to the (female) receptionist or secretary who is willing and able to use the computer for communications and document production (personal observation).

  Compartmentalisation of departments can cause different problems: a researcher at a research institute in Dakar does not have actual email access, even though the University has an account. The reason: there is one account for the entire Institute, which is placed in the computer centre. To send and retrieve messages, the researcher has to physically bring a copy of the message on paper to the centre, and hand it over to the male technician for transmission. Similarly with reception of messages. Therefore convenience of transmission is lost, as is privacy. There can also be substantial time lags between transmission and reception. Other institutional problems include lack of knowledge of available computer facilities and lack of training. These obstacles are exacerbated for women by the fact that they tend to be clustered in junior, part-time, and temporary positions, thus finding themselves at the bottom of the technological ladder.

  In the NGO sector, women's organisations tend to be information-poor in general in addition to a lack of familiarity with ICTs, lack of training, lack of reliable telephone lines and lack of funds. Focus by NGOs on "on the ground" development efforts can lead to a mistrust of ICTs or the perception that they are not appropriate for developing countries. This is especially true for those NGOs dealing with the poorest, where a focus on basic needs and conditions of a minimum quality of life can take priority over "luxuries." Again, since women make up the majority of the poorest, their focus on the necessities will mitigate against their acceptance, or even awareness, of ICTs.

  For those women's NGOs who do take advantage of information gained through ICTs, or who have access to ICTs, use can be sporadic or partial. Many groups which gained online access as a result of plugging in to the Beijing process lost interest after the Conference ended. This was due to lack of recognition of the potential uses and to technical difficulties. (Scarcity of technical service providers allows them to charge higher rates; this tends to disadvantage women's groups.) Other groups which do maintain their online use may play only a passive role in receiving information, not attempting to produce or circulate their own contributions to virtual discussion. The lack of networking and information exchange among women of different sectors within Africa, i.e. among secretaries, activists and researchers, sets up further barriers for the best use and circulation of information for women's empowerment.

  Other barriers to access for women emerge for those who do not have professional access to ICTs, and lack of encouragement for use of ICTs by women's NGOs on the part of parent organisations.

  5. Overcoming Barriers: Women Take Hold of ICTs

  From a preliminary survey of African women's groups, ICT professionals, African APC networks and the World Wide Web, it is apparent that African women are just beginning to use ICTs; they are still in a tiny minority of ICT users. The evidence that women are using ICTs for their development concerns is scarce. That being said, it is also apparent that many innovative and exciting projects are being initiated or are in the planning stages.

  At the same time, it is important to ensure that women's participation in ICTs be appropriate to their situation, perspectives and concerns. They should be supported in creating: their own technological processes and abilities; virtual spaces free of harassment and supportive of non- traditional views of women's abilities; and content that supports their concerns and allows them to fulfil their productive, reproductive and community management roles more efficiently and effectively. The following examples of African women's use of ICTs indicates a strong potential for the innovative use of new technologies to support these goals. Attempts to support and encourage women's participation in ICTs should learn from and build on the examples of these pioneering efforts.

  5.1 Overcoming illiteracy

  As discussed above, a fundamental barrier to women's use of ICTs in developing countries is illiteracy. This is true for Africa. The danger in such a situation is that ICTs will widen and deepen the gap between the haves and have-nots as economies become more and more information-based. However, two different approaches to this issue illustrate that ICTs can in fact help to overcome illiteracy. The Center for Communications and Women's Self- Employment, in Quakchott, Mauritania, like many successful literacy projects, ties literacy training to a package of skills and services provided to support women's entrepreneurial activities. The Center provides classes aimed at self-employment, such as sewing, cleaning and drying of fish, rug weaving and reading lessons. The reading lessons are intended to allow women to more efficiently manage their day-to-day entrepreneurial activities, but also pertain to the recognition that "for women, the biggest problem is information." For this reason, lessons in computer technology and typing are also offered. A similar approach was taken by the Community of Living Water in South Africa who worked with the "Masizakhe" group of women in Kayamandi, South Africa. The purpose of the project was to support women's organic gardening activities. ICTs were used in two ways: to deliver information on organic gardening techniques and resources, and to teach English language skills via CD-ROM. Two web sites in particular were used by the group, one at Ohio University, and the Life magazine Gardening Encyclopedia. Reading skills, initially developed by use of CD-ROMs, were supplemented by adult education information found over the Internet. This use in fact sparked a community initiative to donate used clothing to finance the women's enrollment in additional adult education courses available on the local network, SANGOnet.

  5.2 Facilitating education and training for women and girls

  Two separate ICT initiatives are currently developing to facilitate access to higher levels of education and ICT technical training. They provide examples of how ICTs can facilitate education and training for women in different sectors. The program "Synergie Genre et Developpement" (SYNFEV) at ENDA in Dakar, runs a "Communication for Women" programme with support from the APC network GreenNet. The Communication for Women program emerged from the pre-Beijing process, as SYNFEV began to download, translate and distribute conference information to its local and regional partners and networks. (see Case Study 1). Its post-Beijing strategy is to build on the momentum of the Beijing process to continue electronic networking in francophone Africa around women's health and rights issues. SYNFEV coordinated a workshop for an initial group of 15 NGO representatives from different francophone Africa countries as the initial catalyst group. This workshop provided to participants:

  • training in the use of FIDO networks
  • technical support and training from the ENDA system administrator and a female technician from GreenNet
  • modems for the 12 non-Senegalese participants, provided by CABECA/PADIS and GreenNet
  • support for the workshop costs from an external donor.

  Each participant left the workshop with a modem, installation and configuration disks, and addresses for local internet/network access. An electronic conference was also set up, on "Rights and health for francophone Africa women", "femmes.afrique", on GreenNet and moderated by SYNFEV.

  A second initiative, the "African Women Global Network" (AWOGnet) is currently being set up at Ohio State University by an African woman based at the university, to support the needs and concerns of women and children in Africa. The intent is to link up various organisations and institutions "whose activities are directed towards improving the standards of living for African women and children, especially those within the Continent of Africa." The major focus of AWOGnet will concern better educational infrastructure and support, although it is recognised that this goal is interconnected with issues and activities to natural resource management, agricultural development, refugee and orphanage services, and other socio- cultural issues. The key activity will be the designing and implementing of technical and other support services, including distance education for students and teachers in Africa which is especially targeted to women and children, and which will contribute to increasing Internet connectivity in African countries. While still in the early stages, and in danger of having objectives that are too broadly defined, this project is worth watching for its potential contribution to the education of African women at various levels and in various sectors.

  The potential of CD-ROMs as an education medium is yet to be explored on a general scale, although it cannot be addressed outside the context of technology provision, servicing and training. The experience of the project for African Research Libraries of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which has been working with African researchers and senior administrators on the use of CD-ROM and other technologies for information delivery and access in sub-Saharan Africa, could be relevant here, although its work has been mainly with universities and other institutions. The use of CD-ROMs at the local level has not yet been widely attempted, but according to some represents the best opportunity for the widespread education of girls and women.

  5.3 Supporting women's entrepreneurial activities

  The support of women's entrepreneurial activities is an important ICT benefit for African women which has not yet been realised. A recent needs assessment survey conducted by GreenNet, sent to over 200 women's groups in Africa, found that there was strong interest in the potential of ICT to increase women's income generation. This relates both to women's entrepreneurial activities and to increased levels of skills with concomitant increased opportunities for more highly-paid employment. Timely information on policies, production methods, and support as well as advertising and marketing, can make important contributions to the success of enterprises. This has not yet been fully explored in the context of African women's business information needs. A Gender, Science and Development Programme/UNIFEM conference held at the University Harare, Zimbabwe on "Engendering International Trade: Women in the PTA Region" highlighted the difficulty for women entrepreneurs in Southern Africa to get the information they need. Workshop participants emphasised the importance of access to information on trade policies at national, regional, and international levels, and called for increased access to computerised databases, improved communications and information dissemination among women entrepreneurs, and advertising of the information resources available to them. In addition, the Internet and WorldWide Web present an important opportunity for national and international marketing and advertising. Women's groups in Africa have used ICTs to facilitate fair trade" with international partners. An increasing number of groups in the North which are importing Southern goods for distribution present their product information on the Web; this also presents opportunities for increased business support and markets, if African women can take advantage of them. Swasti Mitter refers to the importance for women of access to commercial knowledge and business skills for small and medium enterprises. The Self-Employment Centre in Mauritania referred to above incorporates training in computers, typing and literacy to support women's entrepreneurial activities at the local level, while in the experience of SYNFEV, women's groups and associations formed at local levels often form around economic or entrepreneurial activities. As a key element in local self-sufficiency, these groups need support to encourage ICT business-related skills and activities.

  5.4 Potential roles for African women's NGOs

  The rapid growth of women's organisations at all levels and their demonstrated ability in development education, training and activities make them a key element of any strategy to encourage women's participation in ICTs. They are generally trusted by local communities, are flexible in operation and have demonstrated great innovation and creativity in framing and organising development projects. Several women's NGOs have extensive networks and operations across Africa, and are thus well-placed to work with technical organisations to develop ICT training and implementation programmes. These include the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre & Network (ZWRCN), the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Isis-Wicce (Uganda), ABANTU for Development (South Africa), African members of the Once and Future Action Network (OFAN), and others. Maria Musoke refers to the importance of sensitising the heads of women's NGOs concerning the importance of ICTs, and, for example, of including budgets for equipment and online access in their proposals and program plans. "If there are, say, 10 established NGOs each with an average membership of 50 women, at least over 500 women would be conversant with ICTs. The sensitisation of women heads of NGOs is, therefore, important because it has a multiplier effect."

  5.5 ICT delivery and access systems

  Women's NGOs also potentially could play a role in facilitating the distribution and production of information by women in Africa. Since cost, technology expertise, repair and infrastructure issues will ensure that ICTs stay out of the reach of most individuals for the foreseeable future, alternative systems of access, delivery and information will need to be developed that are more appropriate to the situation of Africans. This is especially true for women, who tend to have less economic power, training and technical expertise.

  Strategies for women should focus on email and listserv/conference systems. Studies worldwide show that women tend to use email more than other Internet services, for reasons of time, cost and level of technical ability. The African situation lends itself more to email services generally (see the APC Holy Family Communiqué), but again, women's situation and income tend to cluster them in the simpler technology systems. In South Africa, a concern is that IT publications and the IT milieu" are concerned only with the top end of the market, faster machines, and most impressive graphics. The situation of much of the population means that this is relevant to only a few; more attention should be paid to the great deal than can be achieved by the simpler ICTs.

  The majority of women who have access today do so from research institutions, governments and some businesses. Access among poorer and rural classes is currently non-existent, but critical for Africa's development. A technical mix of transmission systems will most benefit these African women, which combines networks, fax, computer communications and even WWW connectivity and connects them to larger off-line or low-tech dissemination networks. Women at Beijing discussed local distribution of information downloaded from the Internet by a communications centre or NGO, through verbal interaction and education. Other possible means include the use of street theatre (already proven an effective dissemination medium), radio and TV, and even music. The experience of the Zambia Association for Research and Development (ZARD), which downloaded information on the Fourth UN World Conference on Women and distributed it regionally, including to local libraries, is an example of the success of this kind of distribution system. One of the challenges in a system such as this, however, is filtering of information which naturally occurs as a result of the choice of the downloader concerning which information is important enough to distribute. This could be resolved by frequent consultation with the receptor groups.

  5.6 Women's time constraints

  Women's lack of time influences the form and content of ICTs. Most women will not perceive the benefits of ICTs, nor will they be able to use them to their full potential, unless they can see an immediate benefit or result of participation in ICTs. Personal experience with other gendered electronic fora indicates that women generally do not have the same time or patience for chat", philosophical discussion and generalised networking, but instead are much more practical in their assessment of the benefits of ICTs. Women want hard, factual data, e.g., information on practical health and educational issues, and government policy documents in their country and in other African countries. They are therefore interested in specific thematic and sectoral information systems which they perceive as fulfilling certain practical goals. This is demonstrated by the fact, for example, that women's ICT use around the world was catalysed by women's interest in information generated in the course of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women.

  For these reasons, promoting women's ICT participation will mean focusing on the sectors in which ICTs will be of most use to women in any of their triple roles. Women have developed or are developing networks and communication projects in sectors they consider crucial:

  • the conference facilitated by SYNFEV is focusing on women's rights and health (Case Study 1);
  • legal information networks, as supported by LAWA (Case Study 3)
  • the GENNET listserv based in the University of Cape Town is intended to facilitate communication between people teaching and research gender-related issues in the Western Cape region (Case Study 5);
  • the African Gender Institute is planning to develop a "Womens Net" as a wider Gender Information Network for South Africa. It currently facilitates email information exchange among librarians and documentalists working in gender equity and justice information, as well as a pan-African working group which communicates regularly through email (Case Study 5);
  • the Reproductive Health Alliance (RRA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, started using ICTs to send regular messages about events, to distribute minutes, organise Alliance activities, send out RRA policy statements, distribute a questionnaire, drafts of the legislation and the RRA Constitution (Case Study 2);
  • a member of the Healthnet network in Uganda is developing a proposal to examine women's use of and access to health information; the success of the Healthnet in supporting basic health care in Africa is established.

  Other areas in which ICTs are considered to contribute are environmental/natural resource management and food production. Women in Africa are important natural resource managers and produce and process much of the subsistence food crops. Their access to current information is important, but so is their role in disseminating information in this area. As holders of most of the developing world's indigenous knowledge, women are recognised by the UNCSTD as central to achieving more sustainable community development.

  5.6 Implementing Women-Friendly ICT Systems

  What becomes clear from these discussions and case studies, then, is that access for women in Africa will depend critically on where the technologies are located, while the most efficient and beneficial use of ICTs is closely connected to the kind of information produced and distributed, i.e. information that directly supports women's activities and responsibilities. Since personal ownership of ICTs for the vast majority of African women is not feasible for the foreseeable future, this means the question of where and how they can gain access to ICTs is central. This includes institutional, sectoral and geographical contexts. Currently, it is only middle- class and professional women who use ICTs.

  In order to facilitate access for women from other classes and sectors, the indications from this survey are that ICTs will need to be located in local institutions to which women have open and equal access, such as health centres, women's NGOs, women's employment centres, libraries, women's studies departments and institutes, and perhaps even churches. The location in these types of contexts also pertains to the practical, specific kind of information that women require as a result of their time constraints. For example, placing internet access in a local health centre will facilitate women's access to the health information they need for themselves and their children, by providing access to information for which there is a specific need at the same time as making a health-related visit. When women can understand and experience the benefits of ICTs, they are quick to use them. Establishing telecommunications centres in local communities is also a potentially useful strategy, if gender obstacles to their access by women are taken into account. Information production and distribution strategies will also be an important consideration, in order to make the most of each point of access. They will need to be flexible, mixed-media and multi-technology systems in order to effectively reach the greatest number of women in Africa.