Case 8: India—ICTs and the Empowerment of Rural Women

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as computers, mobiles, the Internet, and social media, can empower women at the individual, household, and community levels. Empowerment is defined by Kabeer (2001) as “the expansion in peoples’ ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them.” The World Bank describes empowerment as “a multidimensional, long-term process” with resources that include not only financial and productive assets, but opportunities, capabilities, social networks and other environmental factors, as well as the ability to act in one’s own best interest (World Bank, 2001). Women represent 48 percent of India’s population (2011 Census) and their participation in social, political, and economic life is essential to achieving India’s development goals. Studies indicate that Indian society is largely stratified by gender, and that women’s autonomy is constrained when it comes to decision-making, mobility, and access to and control over resources (Malhotra, 2002; Jejeebhoy, 2000). Despite various government programs, women continue to lag behind men in education and political empowerment (Gulati, 2011). The empowerment of women requires systemic transformation in those institutions that support social structures (Kabeer, 2001; Bisnath & Elson, 1999).