Empowering Women Through
Technology
A
A major area of
focus for international development in the past decade has been women’s
empowerment and women’s rights. The international community is largely in
agreement that an equitable, secure and sustainable society requires empowered and
economically independent women. Thus, much of the international aid distributed
to developing countries is being used for projects that work to increase gender
equality and to provide women with opportunities for education and income
generation. What most people don’t realise, however, is the key role that
technology has played in empowering women at the grassroots level, especially
in rural areas.
B
Take, for example,
the multitude of benefits to be gained from introducing mobile phone technology
to women in rural communities, including expanded social networks and increased
security. For rural villagers who must walk hours if
not days to reach the next village, having a cell phone greatly increases their
ability to develop social networks beyond their primary community. These social
networks serve many purposes, such as providing direct lines for communicating
about potential threats or dangers, and to reaching out for help when there is
a crisis or problem. It’s no wonder that multiple studies have shown that women
who are well established in a larger social network feel more confident and
more secure.
C
Besides increasing
security through expanded social networks, mobile phones give women a way to
reach the authorities or designated women’s organisations if they are in
trouble. This is especially useful in cultures where men have inordinate
amounts of control over their wives and daughters, and may try to block their
access to such resources. In situations of domestic abuse or slavery, being
able to reach out to people equipped to help is often a matter of life or
death.
D
Communities where
women have mobile phones have also been correlated with greater overall health.
This is in part due to the fact that mobile phones let you call doctors or
health specialists from nearby villages if there isn’t one available in your
own community. But there’s also a great amount of public health education that
is available through radio, which can be transmitted through most mobile
phones. Women are almost always the ones tending to their families’ health
needs, and therefore will put that education to use. Not only that, but they
will share the information with others in the village, as they more than anyone
know that individual health cannot be distinguished from community health.
Thus, leveraging mobile technologies to address women’s health is extremely
effective.
E
But mobile phones
are just one of the many technologies being introduced to women into developing
countries. Although not as widespread yet due to issues of adequate
infrastructure, the Internet is quickly spreading to economically disadvantaged
communities. It may seem counterintuitive that the Internet would be useful to
women in non-industrialised countries, but consider the advantages of access to
information. Women farmers can simply go online to find out the best practises
for rotating crops or protecting them from certain type of insects. They can
also research labour-saving practises that will increase their profits and
decrease their workloads.
F
In the realm of
employment, the Internet connects women with job opportunities in cities both
domestically and internationally, giving them more options for
income-generation. This can be problematic, of course, as traffickers will lure
naïve villagers away from their homes with false promises of jobs. However,
with some basic trafficking prevention training and connections to women’s
organisations that can help women verify job prospects, using the Internet to
job hunt can be incredibly empowering.
G
Continuing with the
theme of agriculture, enormous strides have been made in improving the lives of
rural women farmers through the introduction of various agricultural
technologies. Take, for example, irrigation. Irrigation is becoming
increasingly important as global climate change results in dryer and dryer
climates. Yet with more men leaving villages to work in cities, women who
traditionally don’t have access to irrigation technologies are left to irrigate
the fields. Agriculturally focused development organisations have intervened on
this problem by helping women to set up advanced irrigation systems. They not
only set them up, but teach the women how to use and maintain them. These women
actively pass on this knowledge to future
generations and entire subsistence-based agricultural communities are
transformed into thriving farming markets that compete both domestically and
internationally.
H
Of course, for
technology introduction programs to be successful, women need the support of
international development organisations and local women’s groups. There is
often a strong backlash by men in patriarchal communities when women are
empowered. Having emotional and logistical support is essential if women are to
persevere in the face of that resistance. Financial support to maintain and
update the technologies introduced is also needed, at least until the point
that communities generate enough profits to reinvest in themselves. While
donor-funded development projects are without question unsustainable in the long-term,
they are certainly a necessary step towards financial independence for women
and their communities.