Women, Family, and Technology

1
Women, Family, and Technology

• Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer,
  infoDevWorld BankKayoko Shibata, Knowledge
  Management Analyst, Gender Development Group,
• Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, World
  Bank Women and ICT Creating Global
  Transformation Symposium
• June 13, 2005
• NOTE Be sure youre in slide show mode

2
Overview

• Why did we start Gender and ICTs Seminars in 2000
  in the
• World Bank, and samples of good practices
  presented on
• Children and families
• World Links
• Hole in the Wall
• New employment opportunities
• The Tianjin Women's Business Incubator (TWBI),
  China
• Spryance, outsourcing medical transcription work
  and home-based workers
• NEC Corp. company policies for increasing female
  workers
• Replication of Grameen Village Phone in Uganda
• IT literacy
• Computer course by NIIT helps women and families
• Technician Education Project in India
• Recommendations

3
Internet is influencing our life at home as well
as at work.

• Increased reliance on Internet for searching
  information, shopping, and communicating.
• In US, seniors online doubled since 2000.
• However, life is very different for women and men
  in developing countries, with women usually
  enjoying far fewer rights and resources

4
of Female Internet Users

• Source USAID/AED (2001)

5
1. Children and families WorldLinks Program
that empowers girls

• Exposure to computers gives girls higher
  self-esteem and a positive attitude towards
  school.
• The Internet represents a partner with whom
  communication can be done without fear,
  limitations or shame. We can learn about our
  bodies, our sexuality. It is a safe partner that
  can provide us with the information we need to
  adapt to this modern world. Such information
  cannot be given to us by our mothers who cannot
  break the rules of our traditional society.
  (Female Student in Mauritania)

6
1. Children and families Hole in the Wall

• Provide poor children in urban slums and villages
  with an opportunity to use computers. Helps
  economically deprived children learn English and
  get access to educational information.
• Daughters teach computer literacy to their
  mothers.

7
2. New employment opportunitiesThe Tianjin
Women's Business Incubator (TWBI), China

• The recipients of services of TWBI
• High unemployment rate in Tianjin, industrial
  city for manufacturing, trade and services
  business
• Women are 40-50 age with low technical skills and
  with heavy family responsibilities
• The World Banks role
• Services provided by TWBI
• Best practice

8
TWBI Services/Programs

• Training on Business Start Up
• Basic ICT Skills and e-Commerce (e-mail,
  Internet, online search)in cooperation with the
  Tianjin government
• Micro credit
• Online consultation service through TWBI websites
  and through network

The China Women Business Incubation Website
9
Activities of infoDev ICT Project The ICT
Business PlanCompetition
10
Best practice Yansheng Trade Co Ltd.

• Manufacturer of wet tissues and paper products.
  
• Owned by a laid-off woman worker who entered in
  TWBI in
• 2003 with 100,000 registered capital. Set up
  website
• and developed e-commerce after her participating
  in ICT
• awareness and skills training.
• Products exported to America, Europe, East
  North
• Asia, and it graduated from TWBI a year later.

11

• Impact of ICTs

12
Impact of ICTs
13
The Double Workday of Women
Source Benin --Time Allocation Study, UNDP, 1998
14
2. New employment opportunitiesSpryance
remote processing medical transcription company
and home-based workers

• Provides web-based medical transcription and
  multimedia services to doctors and hospitals in
  the U.S. Employs a large home-based workforce.
  US medical transcription market is 10 billion.
• Out of 541 medical transcribers, 52 workers are
  women no need to commute
• Financially independent - 200-800/month
• Working mothers balance work and family
• Influencing children at home
• Training on computer basic, medical knowledge,
  and English

15
2. New employment opportunitiesNEC
Corporations efforts in increasing women workers
in IT industry

• In its own corporate and also by working with
  Middle Eastern countries and an NGO in Cambodia

16
Characteristics of the IT Industry
Virtual Creating New Society
Anywhere Regardless of Workplace
IT Industry
Added Value
Localization Localized Business
Anytime Regardless of Working Time
Human Power
Affordable Low Start-Up Cost
Networking Borderless Business
Anyone Regardless of Nationality/Gender

• IT Industry
• Great Potential for Growth
• 
  Women-Friendly
• Huge Capacity for Absorbing Labor Force

17
Women-Friendly IT Works
IT Industry - Offers chances to skilled women
(foreign language, law, finance, etc) - Allows
homemakers to work at home (SOHO)
Work-at-Home Data Input Translation Call
Center
Education- Related IT Education
Designing Web Site Contents
Technology- Oriented Software Design IT
Consulting
Entry-Level Troubleshooting -No Customer Info
Required -No Advanced Skill Required
Customer
18
Japanese Womens Advancement into Society
Female
Employment Rate for Women
Male
Data The Yomiuri Shimbun, others
19
3. IT Literacy courseNIIT literacy campaign for
women - 40,000 poor women in India have gained
IT literacy
20
Women in Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia,
participated in computer course to upgrade their
skills.
21
3. IT Literacy courseIndia Technical Education
Project

• Objective Assist remote states to expand
  capacity and improve quality and efficiency of
  technician education.
• Increase access of women and rural youth to
  technician education and training.
• Strategy Establish new institutes, modernize
  existing programs, focus on women, provide
  housing, linkage with employers community.

22
India Technical Education Project

• New programs include
• Information technology
• Computer Sciences and Engineering
• Electronics and Telecommunications
• Medical electronics
• Costume design and garment technology
• Travel, tourism and hotel management
• Architecture and interior design

23
4. Recommendations

• In the new knowledge economy model, girls and
  women should learn ICTs skills (comparative
  advantage).
• Window of opportunity to teach IT skills to girls
  is under age 13, and they can teach computers to
  their parents at very low costs. After this age
  teaching becomes more expensive.
• Investing in ICT skills training and
  collaboration between the public and private
  sector is necessary. (e.g. NIIT, Spryance, and
  TWBI)

24
4. Recommendations

• Financing public telecenters for women only, in
  cultures segregating women or in post conflict
  countries with high risk for women. These centers
  will provide training and basic hand holding to
  learn ICT skills and should have ties and
  professional affiliations with technical
  institutes and universities to allow interested
  and competent users to have some entry point for
  a more specialized ICT education.
• Promote and encourage usage of email amongst
  government, especially in the context of public
  sector reform aiming at improving public sector
  services delivery.
• When setting national ICT priorities, gender
  based capacity building should be incorporated
  and monitored.

25
4. Recommendations

• Teacher education on using ICT to create and
  promote school content
• Upgrade curriculum for schools and training
  institutes to include ICT application, computer
  sciences, programming, hardware repair, etc.
• Promote scientific education for girls amongst
  teachers, education agencies, families, PTAs etc.
  starting at the basic education level.
• Promote micro credit and access to seed finance.
• Encourage women-friendly company policies (NEC)
  and corporate culture (Spryance).

26
4. Recommendations

• All to collaborate on identifying and collecting
  gender disaggregated data in ICT variables and
  employment in IT industry (e.g. ITU and UNESCO).
• Continue research on women skills upgrading and
  increase in employment and household income.
• Promote competition in ICT sector to make access
  and usage more affordable.
• Recognize women innovators and entrepreneurs.