Association For Progressive Communications (APC)

Women's Networking Support Programme

Africa region

Information and Communication Technologies:
A Women's Agenda

We believe that it is essential to engage more women in accessing and using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for equality and development in Africa. We believe that women should be able to use ICTs strategically in support of women’s empowerment and agendas in order to:

• Facilitate networking and information exchange
• Support solidarity campaigns and collaborative actions
• Mainstream issues of concern to women
• Ensure that women are able to participate equally in civil and public life

 

Who is APC-Women-Africa?

We are an African women’s network of individual women and women’s organisations focussing on African women’s empowerment by : developing and disseminating information, providing regional support, lobbying and advocating around gender and ICT policy; delivering ICT training and conducting research in the area of gender and ICTs

Can ICTs really make a difference?

We are convinced that globalisaton and the emerging information society will either advance the status of women in society or reinforce their marginalization. If we do not engage and harness the tools which ICTs offer us, we will further marginalise women’s concerns

African women already network and organise actions themselves. Appropriate application of ICTs can enable women to access information and knowledge which can assist in overcoming the realities of poverty and exclusion.

The 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women (UNWCW) was a major impetus for women’s advances in the use of ICTs. During the preparatory phase of the UNWCW, women were pioneers in taking up the use of email for information exchange, lobbying and campaigning.

Thought the Internet was a relatively new tool for women, those who gained access and learned to use

it were quick to grasp its potential to facilitate the UNWCW agenda. Like many other civil society organisations, these pioneers now recognise the value of using ICTs in their work.

 

The development of ICTs is taking place in a global context of gender inequalities. In Africa disparities exist amongst women in terms of access to education, land, credit, literacy etc. Gender intersects with many other differences and disparities which also shape women’s ICT needs and experiences such as: race, ethnicity, class, culture, age, history, sexual orientation, geographic location, disability. Poverty, war and endemic violence against women are ever present realities in the lives of many women living in Africa.

"ICTs .. bring profound changes to our communities. They influence how we know and understand the world. They change work methods and the ways in which we communicate. They affect how we access and share information. They are also an important source of power. By acquiring the equipment and skills to use them, we gain access to that power."

The Internet : Getting Connected, published by the African Gender Institute and Women’s Net

ICT realities and Trends

Information can be a transformative tool and the acquisition of appropriate knowledge has the potential to catalyze development. Civil society is seeing :

• Access to mass media and communications are critical in achieving their goals
• Large monopolies controlling media content which is leading to homogenous representation of cultures, harmful content and the regulation and censorship of ICTs
• Public pressure groups struggling to influence and change the direction of the above trends.

"Indeed once trained, women’s groups can harness the potential of the Internet towards the common goal of a gender balanced, just and empowered society."

Dorothy Kabagaju Okello, Uganda

Key areas of concern:

There is an imbalance in the participation of women in ICTs. The growth of ICTs is happening in a context of vast inequalities, violence, poverty and political domination. Although more women and women’s networks are using the Internet in their work since 1995, issues of basic access is a primary area of concern. This prevents women from appropriating ICTs to advance their missions and agendas.

Here are some of the key areas of concern which have emerged since women began harnessing ICTs for development and women’s emancipation

Access and Infrastructure Issues

• Ensure governments and private sector prioritise basic connectivity and infrastructure and include women in policy decisions

• Engage the capacities of African women to facilitate access to appropriate technologies, both

new and old such as radio, television, newspapers etc.

• Development of applications, products and services that address the specific needs of women

• Support and development community telecentres and facilitate the participation of women

 

Economic and development issues

• Ensure that the tools are applicable to diverse women’s needs.
• Harness ICTs for women’s entrepreneurship

• Develop products for women in the informal sector to use ICTs for commercial ventures
• Develop a critical mass of women able to use and appropriate ICTs for their own empowerment
• Train and educate young girls in the fields of science and technology
• Develop training and support materials in local languages and encourage training of women by women.

"Women’s access to information and technology has historically been marginal. Harnessing the power of both is a critical step in developing a genuine culture of gender equality."

Anriette Esterhuysen, Director, SANGONeT, South Africa

Gender and cultural issues

• Develop awareness raising, training and information and communication systems geared to women and girls

• Develop research programmes to document the vast indigenous knowledge of women in critical sectors such as agriculture, health, environment
• Gather gender-disagregated data
• Monitor how women use ICTs and how ICTs impact on gender relationships
• Ensure that access to ICTs does not widen existing disparaties between women
• Support the development culturally relevant content

Political and Human rights issues

• Involve women in planning and decision making on ICT policies and projects to ensure their relevance to the communities in which they work
• Consult women at every level to understand the opportunities and constraints of ICTs in their work
• Establish mechanisms that guarantee that women’s needs are taken into account in projects and programmes

"..information is one of the strongest tools of empowerment.."

African Platform for Action adopted by the Fifth

Regional Conference on Women, Dakar, November 1994

Beijing and beyond

As we reflect on the progress made by women since Dakar and Beijing, these key concerns can serve as building blocks for a wide variety of actions that are required to take up the ICT challenge:

• The Beijing Platform for Action reflects many of these concerns, but efforts are needed to monitor whether – and to what extent – they are being implemented.

• More equitable & strategic use of ICTs by women can contribute towards addressing the other "critical areas of concern" of the Beijing Platform.

• The Beijing+5 process can involve many more women if appropriate use is made of ICTs.

ICTs is a major development issue. If African women are not actively present at all levels, we will see new forms of marginalization that could undermine other advances made by women in the 20th century. This implies a crucial challenge to women to take on these issues themselves.

We are convinced that if women appropriate and use ICTs as tools for collaborative actions, accessing information, and sharing knowledge, ICTs can assist in challenging and changing the devastation of poverty, marginalisation and inequality.

Contact details for APC-Women-Africa

Programme coordination and Francophone Africa:
mhms@enda.sn, http://www.enda.sn/synfev/synfev.htm
ENDA Synfev at ENDA, B.P. 3370 Dakar, Senegal
Tel: 221 823 45 42, Fax: 221 822 26 95

Southern Africa:
Women’sNet at SANGONeT
women@sn.apc.org, http://womensnet.org.za
PO 31, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa.
Tel: 27 11 838 69 43, Fax: 27 11 492 10 58

East Africa:
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Africa Centre for Women,
mwambui@orientation.com,
PO Box 3001, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
Tel: 251 1 51 89 19, Fax: 251 1 51 22 33

"Advances in information technology have opened up boundaries. The role of women in global communication networks needs to be strengthened. Barriers to such information technology and to women’s involvement at every level of its development should be reduced"