Technology & Society
Closing the other Digital Divide: How gender affects ICT use in Nigeria

By Oreoluwa Somolu                         &n bsp;                         &nb sp;                         &nbs p;                           ;                    techsociety@w-teconline.org.

I was very pleasantly surprised to be invited to write this column for Technology Times and especially to be given such leeway to write on whatever I wanted to.  

The title of this column ‘Technology & Society’ indicates roughly what I will be focusing on, because the relationship between the two is not only fascinating and dynamic, but one which affects each of us. You only have to think of the countless ways in which technology has changed how we live, and yet has continued to evolve to solve changing problems and meet anticipated future needs. 

One of my strong interests is exploring the relationship between gender and technology i.e. how the two sexes are using (or not) technology; how technology has been shaped by the participation (and again, the non-participation) of each sex; and the myriad applications to our personal and professional lives of these tools. And in my roles as founder, executive director, trainer and doer-of-anything-else-that-needs-to-be done of a non-governmental organisation, I am passionate about increasing technology literacy among girls and women. My work exclusively focuses on information and communication technology (ICT) – particularly the computer and Internet-based variety – because over the last decade, these have had the most impact on the way I work, learn and even have fun. So, in this column when I write about ‘technology’ I am referring to ICTs.  

The gender perspective is one not often considered when considering the applications, impact and performance of technology, or when reviewing policy. The usual type of divide that is acknowledged is between users of the developed world and the developing countries; or between users living within Nigeria’s urban areas versus those in the rural areas. Sometimes it’s between the affluent and the less economically-capable. 

However, gender is an important issue when thinking and planning how ICTs can be used for development. Why? Because, according to Nancy Hafkin, a pioneer of networking, and development information and communications in Africa, when we talk about ICTs and development, we move from a purely technology focus to a human focus; and gender is a big determinant in who accesses and who uses ICTs. 

First off, let’s get a clear idea of what constitutes ICTs. The Association for Progressive Communications categorises ICTs into three main groups:

·     Information technology, which uses computer hardware, software and peripherals

·     Telecommunications technologies, which include telephones (with fax) and the broadcasting of radio and television, often through satellites

·     Networking technologies, of which the best known is the internet, but which has extended to include mobile phone technology, Voice Over IP telephony (VOIP) and satellite communications.

There are a host of factors which limit women’s access to and use of information technology. The low levels of literacy and education among women is a big obstacle to women’s access to ICTs. The majority of illiterate people in Africa are women and of the total out-of-school children on the African continent are girls. Since, many ICTs are text-based and require an ability to read and write, and in some cases, some level of technical and scientific literacy, many women are cut-off from these tools due to their illiteracy. Mobile phones are more accessible to this group, depending more on knowledge of numbers (except where SMS and related features are concerned). 

Traditional practices have tended to favour the education of boys over girls, believing that girls will grow up to become wives and mothers, who will not optimise the investment made in educating them. Of course, this notion is fast changing, as women are embarking on careers, which are not merely regarded as a means of supplementing their husband’s incomes, but as serious profession

+s in their own rights. However, domestic responsibilities that many women have to combine with their careers frequently ensure that women have limited free time in which to pursue further education, for instance learning and practicing using the computer.  

Many women have professed to feelings of ‘techno phobia’ or a fear of technology. This might stem from being socialized from an early age into thinking that technology is the sole preserve of men. While not overly concerned about saying the ‘politically correct’ things, you might not find many men would explicitly declare technology to be a ‘man’s domain’; however you are likely to see adverts and depictions in newspapers and books of men working with technology. These images will typically unconsciously perpetuate these stereotypes, which are re-enforced by the lack of female role models or mentors in this field.  

Costs of access to ICTs has generally been prohibitive, largely due to limited connectivity (as a result of no optical fibre, limited satellite links and telecommunication infrastructure concentrated in the cities), putting it out of the reach of many women who are less likely to have disposable income for what are regarded as ‘leisure’ activities, when other basics of food, clothing and their children’s education have higher priority. 

A wider problem might also be that many women are unsure of the clear relevance of technology to their lives, particularly when these tools do not seem suited to their lives; for instance, the dominant languages of the Internet are English and Chinese which women who do not speak either are therefore unable to use. Content that reflects the realities and needs of Nigerian women are also hard to come by. 

In the urban areas, especially among educated and financially comfortable women, these reasons might appear rather distant, but we need to remember that the educated woman in Nigeria and indeed in Africa is small subset of the entire female population. 

Any attempt to integrate ICTs into daily lives and with an aim of facilitating development must take into account how both men and women interact with technology. Efforts must be made to ensure that the information being provided via ICTs meets women’s needs. This means developing appropriate software suited to local conditions e.g. programs available in indigenous languages. It also means providing gender-sensitive and relevant information that is compatible with local factors such as varying literacy levels (solutions could include to disseminate more information by radio); time constraints (provide easy-to-understand information, minimise use of graphics on websites); different levels of comfort with technology (design user-friendly interfaces); and epileptic power supply (disseminate information by text messages on mobile phones, develop technologies that utitlise easily renewable sources of power). 

Acknowledging how gender affects both the design and use of technology is an important first step in moving towards a more inclusive information society. In future articles, I will be exploring how we can do this and looking at related issues in greater depth. In the meantime, I look forward to receiving comments and thoughts on this article. 

• Oreoluwa Somolu is Executive Director of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) and can be reached at techsociety@w-teconline.org.