THE INTERNET AND MOBILE TELEPHONY:

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THE INTERNET AND MOBILE TELEPHONY

• IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMENS DEVELOPMENT AND
  EMPOWERMENT IN ZAMBIA
• Kutoma Jacqueline Wakunuma
• Coventry University

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Why this Research?

• Increased and fast ICT usage
• Even faster for mobile phones
• Steady growth of Internet
• Global Consensus
• UN (Global Level)
• Two Major Summits
• WSIS Declaration of Principles
• Zambia (National level)
• National ICT Policy

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WSIS Declaration of Principles

• Our challenge is to harness the potential of
  information and communication technology to
  promote the development goals of the Millennium
  Declaration, namely the eradication of extreme
  poverty and hunger achievement of universal
  primary education promotion of gender equality
  and empowerment of women (2003)

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National Level Zambian Policy

• it is envisaged that ICTs can be harnessed to
  contribute to the achievement of the Millennium
  Development Goals MDGs namely promotion of
  gender equality and empowerment of women
  (20052)
• Information access and dissemination are some of
  the key empowerment tools for women as special
  groups. Therefore, by increasing sustainable
  programmes targeted at women as special groups,
  greater empowerment opportunities can be created
  (200517)

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Aim

• Investigate relationship of gender to policy and
  practice of ICT develop and community empowerment

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Objectives

• interrogate how gender is implicated in different
  experiences of women men in relation to access
  use of ICTs
• explore which ICTs women men believe are most
  effective
• views of policy-makers ICT service-providers
• consider official ICT develop agenda in Zambia

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Research Approach

• Questionnaire Administration
• Policy Document Analysis
• Case Studies of community initiatives
• Kalomo Bwacha Womens ICT Club
• Zambia Electronic Perinatal Record System
• Interviews
• Policy formulators
• ISP and Mobile Phone Service Providers
• Individual Users
• Focus Group Discussion

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Some Findings
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Social and Economic Possibility
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Social Economic Potentials
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Can Mobiles Socially and Economically Improve
Lives
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Social Economic Potential
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Price Opinion
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ICT Preference
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Gender-Based Community ICT InitiativesKalomo
Bwacha Womens ICT Club
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Zambia Electronic Perinatal Record System
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Concluding Perspectives

• Mobile phones seemed more relevant
• social contact with family and friends
• Small scale business purposes e.g debt
  follow-up checking on orders
• mobile an economic gain or additional
  expenditure?
• easier and faster communication e.g births,
  weddings, funerals, other emergencies
• easier for women to mobilise
• reduced travel costs (but can lead to airtime
  costs)
• very little value for acquiring knowledge when
  compared to internet

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Internet

• Wider exposure possibilities for social and
  business purposes
• Offers more potential for knowledge than the case
  is for mobiles
• Like mobiles, internet is expensive to access

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Some Social and Economic Challenges

• Infrastructure
• Lack of Knowledge of ICTs
• Maintenance
• Awareness
• Policy (from formulation to actual
  implementation)
• Costs
• Paging syndrome
• No I am not going to return the call this time.
  He thinks I am the one with money. No I will
  also page him, see what he makes of that!

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Social Problems

• Insecurity and Insensitivity
• Jealousy and Mistrust
• Relationships breaking up
• My husband didnt trust me, he suspected I had
  other men so I sold my mobile
• Promiscuity e.g even illustrated in songs
• My husband demands that I answer the phone in his
  presence he doesnt do the same, especially when
  its a womans voice. He will start acting
  strangely and very jumpy. I can tell its a
  girlfriend
• Cause for violence
• Some women being battered because of these cell
  phones because of answering their husbands cell
  phones.. Some dont know how to use them
• Gender stereotypes reinforced

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Future Considerations

• Telemedicine especially in rural areas for women
• Accessing information on mobiles e.g weather,
  health information
• Technology not linear but dependant on social and
  cultural needs
• Awareness in order for innovative use of
  technologies like internet even building on
  mobiles