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.