Women's Empowerment
Value added IT skills
July 2008, Farida Umrani and Rehana Ghadially, i4d
This study explores the issue of gender neutrality and inclusion of marginalised sections in IT enabled services. Using a sample of men and women from the Muslim community in Mumbai who have undergone the Urdu desktop publishing diploma course offered by the government, the study finds that women are at a disadvantage compared to men in acquiring soft skills such as English language proficiency and communication, that are essential for a successful career in this sector.
Telecommuting: An Indian perspective
July 2008, Jyotsna Anand, i4d
This article provides interesting insights into how the Indian workforce and the work environment are changing. Flexible working hours and the option to work from home have made managing life and work easy for employees. The employers also benefit by being able to retain employees and ensure productivity.
Empowering rural women through computers
March 12, 2008,The Hindu
The article profiles the e-Mahile project, which envisages the supply of development services in rural areas through womens' self help groups. Davangere district in Karnataka has taken the lead in this programme and is in the process of training 250 women in the operation of these services by using computers and the Internet. The services range from operating bank accounts to providing information, as well as buying railway tickets.
CMCs and subaltern gendered selves
December 2007, Lopa Ghosh, I4donline
The article provides a window into the use of community media as a tool for engineering transformation in lives of women, particularly from those sections of society where their independence is significantly curtailed due to narrow social and religious practices. It reports on a recent study of the effect of the use of Internet among the women of a predominantly low-income Muslim community in East Delhi. It shows that the Internet has opened a new world to these women who were traditionally closeted behind thick veils of seclusion in the name of religion.
The power of TV: Cable television and women's status in India
2007, Robert Jensen and Emily Oster, Watson Institute for International Studies - Brown University, University of Chicago & NBER
Cable and satellite television have grown rapidly throughout the developing world. The availability of cable and satellite television exposes viewers to new information about the outside world, which may affect individual attitudes and behaviours. This paper explores the effect of the introduction of cable television on gender attitudes in rural India. Using a three-year individual-level panel dataset, the study finds that the introduction of cable television is associated with improvements in women's status.
Women power set to take IT industry
December 13, 2007, Indiatimes
There is a perception that the Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/IT-ES) sectors have apparently provided a more level playing field in terms of employment opportunities without any gender bias. This claim seems to be borne out by the prediction that the percentage of women in such industries is set to rise dramatically in the coming years. However, there are still some glaring anomalies as pointed out by the article viz., the representation of women in upper management is significantly disproportionate to the overall percentages.
The persistence of traditional gender roles in the Information Technology sector: A study of female engineers in India
2005, Reena Patel and Mary Jane C. Parmentier, MIT Press Journal
As women in India enter the rapidly expanding Information Technology (IT) workforce, it could be predicted that their active participation in this sector will change their socio-economic status within the employing organization and the communities in which they reside. It is often expected that women's participation in the professional realm will contribute to a breakdown of traditional gender roles. And indeed, the data illustrate that women are working in the IT sector in India in increasing numbers.
Gender in the information society: Emerging issues
2006, Anita Gurumurthy et al., UNDP: Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
This selection of papers comes from a seminar organized by an Indian NGO, IT for Change, in April 2005. The collection offers valuable literature on areas which have largely gone unnoticed in ICT and development discourse.
Gender, e-commerce and development
2003, R.C. Sharma, The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries
This short piece by the regional director of Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) discusses major barriers to women's entry into the e-commerce sector. The analysis of gender issues in e-commerce settings reveals that women face significant barriers in education and training.
Critical voices: Women's perspectives on the role of the information society in fostering human development
December 2003, Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change
The author of this piece contends that the use of ICTs in realising human development goals is constrained by the larger socio-economic context, which itself is rooted in neo-liberal policies. At WSIS, negotiations between governments, as over anything that implicates global justice, will result in the adoption of the lowest common denominator.
