Robert Schware, Global ICT Department

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Engendering ICTEnsuring gender equality in ICT
for development or,

If you dont ask for gender in a Bank project,
you wont get it

• Robert Schware, Global ICT Department
• Kayoko Shibata, Gender and Development Group
  June 11, 2003

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Photo SchoolNet, Uganda on AddressingGender
Divide in the digital divide
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Why this study-broadly

• Since the 1970s awareness of disparities in
  rights and resources between men and women
  affecting access to benefits of development has
  increased globally.

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Why this study-specifically

• Responds to call of WB/OED (2002) for better
  integration of gender considerations into the
  design of Bank-supported projects so that both
  men and women are able to access the benefits
  equitably.
• Many Bank-supported projects have an ICT
  component.
• To investigate the potential of ICT for promoting
  gender-equitable development in Bank
  projects.Funding for this study has been
  provided by the Government of Japan.

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Areas examined by study

• Employment both in the formal IT sector and in
  the informal, semi-formal area of micro and small
  enterprises.
• Education to provide a base for using ICT and
  new models of delivery.
• ICT-enabled delivery of social services.
• Using ICT for political empowerment.
• National ICT policies.
• Consideration of gender issues in Bank projects
  cutting across many sectors.

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This presentation

• Concentrates on analysis of consideration of
  gender issues in World Bank projects.
• Based on desk study of some 200 projectsand
  interviews with TTLs.

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What does it mean toengender ICT?

• New meaning of engender integrating gender
  into development work.
• Engendering ICT- process of identifying and
  removing gender disparities in the access to and
  use of ICT.
• Adapting ICT to the special needs, constraints,
  and opportunities of women.
• Taking advantage of womens special knowledge and
  strong informal networks that may combine
  electronic with traditional communication systems.

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Telecentre Manager showing some people in the
community how to search the web, Jakraj,
Thailand. Photo Warren Wong
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Gender issues in WB ICT projects

• Study broad sample of Bank projects from the ICT
  sector and those with ICT components from other
  sectors to determine extent of inclusion of
  gender issues.
• The half-full glass . . .Nearly half of projects
  considered gender as an element in the overall
  rationale for the project
• But consideration was often only a mention of
  gender or description of the varying social roles
  of men and women.
• The other half of the glass . . .More than half
  of the projects examined paid no attention to
  gender issues whatsoever.

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ICT component treated as purely technical,
without considering social impact or gender
differentials

• Only one third of the projects included actions
  that targeted women or strengthened institutions
  likely to target women.
• One-third of projects aimed to undertake actions
  that promoted gender-equitable access to
  resources.
• When ICT components were examined for gender
  issues, results were dismal
• Fewer than ten percent of the projects examined
  considered gender issues in information
  technology.

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Successful incorporation of gender issues in
World Bank projects examples

• Argentina education project teaching information
  technology in secondary schools and analyzing
  results by sex and class.
• Bulgaria land registration information system
  that recognizes the gender issue of womens
  access to land registration information.
• Ghana an agricultural services ICT project that
  targets women farmers for the diffusion of
  information and has a sex-disaggregated database
  of food and agricultural statistics.
• India an IT technician training project that,
  through the provision of hostels and
  scholarships, supports women students studying in
  their own states.
• Macedonia ICT training for youth aiming to
  improve the situation of girls from minority
  ethnic groups who are underrepresented in
  education.

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More best practices projects

• Mexico project to deliver ICT services to
  micro-enterprises that allocate funds to train
  women.
• Mozambique mineral resources information
  management project that addresses gender issues
  in artisanal mining.
• Mozambique higher education project in
  Mozambique that increases Internet access for
  institutions of higher education with a focus on
  gender equity.
• Peru agricultural extension project that selects
  information technology service providers inter
  alia on the basis of their capability to work
  with rural women.
• Tanzania establishment of agricultural extension
  information and communication centers that
  reserve 30 percent of places for women and
  included womens issues in training.

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Some findings

• A large number of projects paid some attention to
  gender, but mostly not in a meaningful way.
• Assurances of gender consideration or mentions of
  gender were not matched by project actions.
• Despite a mandate to include social analysis in
  all project preparation documents, there were
  many cases where social analysis was relevant but
  not applied.

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If you dont ask for gender, you dont get
gender

• Potential of ICT to help achieve equitable and
  sustainable development will not be realized
  without special attention to gender issues.
• Gender-aware results, in ICT as in other areas,
  do not emerge without concomitant effort.
• What is needed is the application of gender
  analysis and gender-aware project design,
  implementation, and evaluation.
• Activities must include both men and women
  stakeholders to ensure that opportunities to
  utilize technologies are not inhibited by
  cultural dictates on seclusion, restrictions on
  mobility, or the gendered division of labor.

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WB Village Self-help Kiosk Pilot Project,
Polonnaruwa District, Sri LankaPhoto Meena
Munshi
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WB Village Self-help Kiosk pilot project,
Polonnaruwa, Sri LankaPhoto Meena Munshi
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To involve both men and women, ICT projects
should see that

• Women are involved in the design and
  implementation of projects.
• Projects target men and women equally
  (establishing separate access and training
  strategies if necessary).
• Account is taken of the social division of labor,
  by which most domestic responsibilities fall upon
  women.
• Content should be locally appropriate and of
  value to women as well as men.

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Difference in ICT use between men and women

• ICTs are not about technology alonethey are also
  about social impact.
• There are differences between the way men and
  women use ICTs task managers should ask
  themselves these questions when they design and
  implement projects.
• Do ICTs impact men and women differently?
• Do men and women have equal access - computer
  skill training and use of the new systems?
• Are both men and women able to transmit their
  knowledge through the media?

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Virtually every ICT project has gender issues

• Gender issues should be considered from the
  beginning of project design, not added in
  hindsight.
• The number of women involved in project design
  and implementation is not a guarantee of gender
  awareness- include gender experts or receive
  input from organizations that work on gender
• Successful ICT projects do not need high-end
  technology to address gender issues. Available
  and affordable ICTs can also make a significant
  impact on gender.

Photo Grameen USA
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Recommendations to engender WB ICT projects

• At the initial stage of project development,
  project teams should be made aware of useful
  tools and good practice examples of gender and
  ICT, such as in the toolkit that accompanies the
  study.
• World Bank staff working on operations that
  involve ICT should receive training on gender
  issues in ICTs.

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Training and dissemination plan

• Hold a series of training seminars on Engendering
  ICT. Target Audience
• Staff involved in ICT projects.
• Gender specialists who are involved in projects
  with ICT components to find out how the use of
  ICTs could empower women and men.
• Staff who work on the areas that this study
  examined, including education, MSE/labor market,
  and delivery of social services.
• Distribute the main report and the toolkit
  (web-based CD) in July 2003.

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Pong Phayao T-Centre, Thailand. Photo Warren
Wong
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Ban Mae T-Centre, Thailand. Photo Warren Wong
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Ban Mae T-Centre, Thailand. Photo Warren Wong
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Telecenter Manager doing web search at Ban Mae
T-Centre, Thailand. Photo Warren Wong
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Photo Peoples First Network, Solomon Islands
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Inside a Phone Shop in Nepal
Photo Warren Wong
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Computer Class in NOCHIYAGAMA in the ANURADHAPURA
district in the North Central Province. Sri
Lanka, run by the Don Bosco Church. Photo
Harendra de Silva
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Photo SchoolNet, Uganda
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Photo SchoolNet, Uganda on AddressingGender
Divide in the digital divide
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Photo SchoolNet, Uganda on AddressingGender
Divide in the digital divide
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Photo SchoolNet, Uganda
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Photo from Brazil AED