Gender and Telecentres: What Have We Learned

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Gender and Telecentres What Have We Learned?

• Eva M. Rathgeber
• Joint Chair of Womens Studies
• Université of Ottawa/Carleton University
• Ottawa, Canada
• March 2002

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TELECENTRE BACKGROUND

• TCs began in Sweden -1980s
• Developing countries -1990s
• Strong donor interest
• potential to overcome North/South information
  chasms
• allow South to participate more equitably in
  global economy
• (open new market opportunities for business in
  the North)

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Telecentres in the South

• In Africa there are now thousands, ranging from
  single purpose teleshops to multipurpose TCs,
  offering a full range of services
• But the emphasis has been on the provision of
  hardware and on solving the technical problems of
  connectivity
• So like other technological innovations before
  them, TCs often were imposed w/out adequate
  attention to local needs, capacities and
  preferences

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Telecentres in the South

• Little concrete knowledge about the information
  needs and preferences of local communities
• Little or no focus on content
• The technology itself was seductive
• Start-up costs are high a South African
  estimate suggests it costs US40,000

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What about women?

• Preliminary evidence suggests that telecentres in
  developing countries are not particularly
  effective in helping women to gain access to
  better economic, educational and other
  opportunities
• Women use telecentres much less than men and when
  they do use them, it is usually for non-internet
  related purposes

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Why?

• TCs have been set up in the same way as earlier
  technology-based innovations, i.e. with the
  expectation that the hardware will be used
  equally and in the same way by everyone
• But research has shown that boys and girls/ men
  and women do not approach technology in the same
  way nor with the same expectations

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Machines for men

• TECHNOLOGY IS NOT NEUTRAL!
• Most often it is designed by men to meet their
  own needs and interests
• It assumes love of tinkering and learning by
  trial and error
• Most TCs have been set up in this model to meet
  the priorities and interests of male users
• The onus is on the user to come in and try the
  equipment and to find out for himself what it can
  do

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Why are we seeing a difference between male and
female users?

• Telecentres are set up on a fee-charging basis
  with mostly male technical management and support
• It is assumed that users have at least a little
  disposable income and that they themselves decide
  how it should be spent
• It is assumed that users will feel comfortable in
  a one-on-one technical assistance situation with
  a man
• Premises are usually cramped and there is little
  privacy (and no childcare facilities)

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differences

• The TCs assume that users understand that
  information can be a valuable tool to help them
  solve their problems
• It is assumed that users are literate and able to
  communicate in a metropolitan language
• It is assumed that users will feel comfortable
  with computers and anonymous, gray-coloured
  equipment that works almost invisibly

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Womens Situation

• None of these assumptions necessarily hold true
  for women
• Women usually have less access to financial
  resources, less time, and less education than men
• Even the physical site of the TC can become
  problematic if it means that they have to travel
  far from home or to interact closely with men

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Donor Involvement

• IDRC,UNESCO, USAID, ITU and UNDP have been major
  actors in the establishment of telecentres but no
  one has successfully developed an effective
  methodology to address womens different
  priorities and constraints
• However, IDRC, USAID, and UNDP have all supported
  numerous studies that focus specifically on
  womens different needs and perspectives

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THEREFORE

• The knowledge exists
• WHY IS IT NOT USED?
• As donors, we have not learned from our own
  experiences

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What is the evidence for this view?

• IDRC recently undertook an evaluation of
  telecentres in Uganda, South Africa, Senegal,
  Mozambique
• In every country, it was found that telecentres
  are used more often by men than by women
• - in Uganda women represented 29 of
  the users
• - in Mozambique they were 35
• - in Mali they were 23

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Survey Results

• In Uganda, the evaluation focused on three
  donor-funded telecentres and two private
  cybercafes
• Two of the telecentres were in rural areas, one
  telecentre and two cybercafes were in
  urban/peri-urban area (Kampala)

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Survey Results

• Ugandan sample included 217 women and 288 men
  living in the area
• Only 41 had ever used a computer
• More than half were unaware of the telecentres or
  did not know where they were located
• Biggest users were young people (71 were under
  50 and 27 under 16)

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Survey Results

• Similar findings in other countries
• - in Mozambique only 15 of women in the sample
  had ever used a computer, compared with 21 of
  the women
• - in every country, the biggest users were young
  people

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Women users

• Older, rural-based women were the least likely
  telecentre users
• But women in urban/ peri-urban areas were more
  likely to use the telecentres than women in rural
  areas

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Communication Priorities

• Fax, internet and e-mail were the least used
  services in all cases (regarded to be for elite)
• Photocopying, document printing, reading of books
  and newspapers, telephone and video/tv were most
  used
• Multi-purpose telecentres had higher usage than
  single purpose ones
• Communication mostly for social/family purposes,
  not for educational/business purposes

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Reasons for lack of female presence

• The Mali evaluation found that the cost of
  telecentre use was still too high for women
• Efforts had been made to include women on the TC
  management committee, to provide training
  specifically for women, to display photos of
  women using computers on training materials, to
  offer fee discounts, etc
• But women still are not coming so there must be
  other reasons

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Provision of Content

• The telecentres have tried to repackage some
  information to suit the local environment and to
  make it more user-friendly
• Focus mostly has been on agriculture and health
• But they have had problems with
• Lack of funds for repackaging activities
• Lack of requisite skills and expertise
• No cost recovery system in place

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Content IS the issue

• Lack of local content was a major problem that
  was expressed by both men and women telecentre
  users

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How to grapple with the content issue?

• One approach is to work with a CD ROM modality
• Allows for multi-media approach combining
  pictures, comics, speech and written text in a
  user-friendly (woman-friendly) manner
• It does not require costly and unreliable
  internet connection

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An example

• IDRC funded a project with the New York-based
  IWTC to produce a CD ROM for rural Ugandan women
  entitled Rural Women in Africa Ideas for
  Earning Money.
• It was prepared in English and in Luganda and can
  be used by illiterate or semi-literate people
• Most importantly, it provides practical
  information that can be used immediately

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Further Plans

• We are now preparing a CD ROM for Berber women in
  Morocco who work in a cooperative producing
  argane oil
• The argane tree is almost unique to Morocco and
  women have been producing oil for alimentary and
  cosmetic uses for centuries
• But their harvesting and processing techniques
  are environmentally unfriendly and physically
  laborious

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Women Breaking Argane Nuts
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Berber women watching Uganda CDROM
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Women learning to use the computer
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CD ROM for Berber Women

• We have started a participatory process with the
  Berber women, discussing the storyline for the CD
  ROM and getting constant feedback
• The final product will focus on environmental
  degradation, on the properties of the argane
  tree, on the process of setting up a cooperative,
  and on ideas for the valorization of argane
  products
• It will be produced in French, Arabic and Berber