Information and Communication Technologies for Women's Socioeconomic Empowerment

Information and Communication Technologies for Women's Socioeconomic Empowerment

Author: Samia Melhem

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2009-10-02

Total Pages: 99

ISBN-13: 0821381342

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This paper reviews how women in the developing world access and use information and communication technology (ICT). It examines the discourse and controversies surrounding the digital gender divide, including links to poverty and illiteracy. Major themes concerning women and ICTs are explored, such as women in the ICT workforce, how girls and women relate differently to ICT, and opportunities and barriers for women in science and technology in general. Current research relating to gender and ICT is often country-specific and is more prevalent in developed countries than in developing countries. This paper suggests where additional research is needed on barriers to women s entry and access to ICT. The overall objective of this paper is to influence policy dialogue around women and ICT for development by raising awareness of the digital gender divide. Economic opportunity for women in ICT will not be realized until policies address gender considerations and ensure that ICT investment contributes to more sustainable and equitable development.


Lightening the Load

Lightening the Load

Author: Marilyn Carr

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 9781853396892

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Women are central to overcoming rural poverty. They play a critical role in poverty reduction and food security because they are responsible for both production and reproduction. Rural women in developing countries have longer working days than men because of their triple roles as farmers, caretakers of their families and cash earners through income-generating activities and microfinance. In addition, increasing drought and deforestation in many parts of the world make women's workload even more burdensome as they have to walk ever-longer distances to find firewood and clean water. The multiple roles of women can act as an obstacle to development interventions, which often put additional pressure on women's time. Women's heavy workload reduces the time available for participation in project-related activities or affects their ability to care for their families. Ensuring women's access to labour-saving technologies for water, energy and farm-related activities is fundamental, and the need for such technologies is greater than it has ever been before. This timely publication looks back at three decades of experiences in introducing labour-saving technologies and practices to rural women and in combating persistent gender discrimination in access and control. It also takes into account major developments in science, technology and innovation over the last several years and shows they can benefit women.


Technology and Rural Women

Technology and Rural Women

Author: Iftikhar Ahmed

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-30

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1000648761

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First published in 1985, Technology and Rural Women synthesizes the fragmented empirical evidence and the wide range of theoretical approaches on the effects of modernisation on women in the developing world. Using a multi-disciplinary methodology, empirical and sectoral overviews, and country case studies, it draws together the literature to clarify the issues and the policies. The book begins with a conceptual overview and analyses the applicability of traditional theories of technological change and impact on gender based distributional questions. It proceeds to compare the African and Asian experience, examines the African situation regionally, and then as a set of four country case studies. The authors find that the imperfections of rural factor markets have contributed to women’s concentration in labour intensive sectors, marked by low productivity and low returns. Biases in the agrarian structure and the extension services are largely responsible for the Institutionalisation of discrimination against women. Finally, the volume identifies the social, economic, and technical constraints to the diffusion of technologies relevant to rural women’s tasks. In the final chapter the book’s analysis is further refined and extended, so that its conclusions to both theory and policy making are clearly brought out, and areas of future research identified. This book is an essential read for students and scholars of labour economics, women’s studies and economics in general.


Gender and the Digital Economy

Gender and the Digital Economy

Author: Cecilia Ng

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2005-11-05

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780761934103

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In the global discourse on ICTs, the concern so far has primarily been outsourcing and the loss of service sector jobs from the developed world. This book focuses, instead, on the positive aspects of the digital economy as they relate to women in the developing world. It illustrates—with case studies from Argentina, Morocco, India, Malaysia and the Philippines—how economic empowerment through the medium of ICTs can change the position of women within their families and the workplace, even in the face of uneven development processes. This timely volume, which is rooted in primary and original research, illuminates the gender-related facets of the emergent information society while raising key questions about the implications of the digital economy on women`s work and lives.


Gender Planning and Development

Gender Planning and Development

Author: Caroline Moser

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1134935374

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Gender planning is not an end in itself but a means by which women, through a process of empowerment, can emancipate themselves. Ultimately, its success depends on the capacity of women's organizations to confront subordination and create successful alliances which will provide constructive support in negotiating women's needs at the level of household, civil society, the state and the global system. Gender Planning and Development provides an introduction to an issue of primary importance and constant debate. It will be essential reading for academics, practitioners, undergraduates and trainees in anthropology, development studies, women's studies and social policy.


Development Crises and Alternative Visions

Development Crises and Alternative Visions

Author: Gita Sen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-05

Total Pages: 121

ISBN-13: 1134156820

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More than half of the world's farmers are women. They are the majority of the poor, the uneducated and are the first to suffer from drought and famine. Yet their subordination is reinforced by well-meaning development policies that perpetuate social inequalities. During the 1975-85 United Nations Decade for the Advancement of Women their position actually worsened. This book analyses three decades of policies towards Third World women. Focusing on global economic and political crises - debt, famine, militarization, fundamentalism - the authors show how women's moves to organize effective strategies for basic survival are central to an understanding of the development process.


The Global Findex Database 2017

The Global Findex Database 2017

Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2018-04-19

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1464812683

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In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.


An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia?

An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia?

Author: Diao, Xinshen, ed.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-12-07

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 0896293807

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Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.


Measuring the Digital Transformation A Roadmap for the Future

Measuring the Digital Transformation A Roadmap for the Future

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2019-03-11

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9264311998

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Measuring the Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for the Future provides new insights into the state of the digital transformation by mapping indicators across a range of areas – from education and innovation, to trade and economic and social outcomes – against current digital policy issues, as presented in Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives.