nuevas TRENZAS informs
JUne 2013 N° 12
Young Rural Women in Latin America: So Far Away and So Close of ICTs Public Policies and Programs about New Technology Management, Insertion and Technological Gap. Patricia Peña Consultant – Specialist on ICTs and development Chile Studies and systematized research on women and ICTs in Latin America and the Caribbean -especially those regarding access, use, digital alphabetization- are scarce. Only recently have some studies started to be developed in relation to the need of focusing and orienting public policies according to a gender perspective. Meaning, a perspective that will aim at addressing social, economic and gender, education and labor gaps related to women’s participation in different areas of the region’s economic and social development. In that sense, this research is a critical analysis of the main public policies and development projects that involve Latin America’s young rural women in the field of use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), social digital insertion and technological gap. The regional context and the digital gender gap A recent report prepared by the Sistema de Información en Estadísticas Educativas en América Latina (Information System on Education Statistics in Latin America) of the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos (Iberian-American States Organization) shows that during the first decade of the century, many rural homes have still less possibilities of accessing the Internet in comparison to urban areas in Latin America. There is, however, an emerging trend in the Latin American rural world: the increasing use of cell phones in relation to fixed Internet, which can also be a key piece of information when designing ICT projects that seek to have a purposeful impact in the everyday dynamics of the rural world. Public Policies on Gender and ICTs For having a broad scenario of how efforts carried out by civil society, governments, and public policies have been moving forward regarding the full insertion of women in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs), it is necessary to take into account the background and debates that emerged when this issue was included in the discussions about women’s rights in the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).
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At the time, women demanded more participation in the development of ICTs and political decisions regarding the access, functioning and governance of Internet, as part of their citizenship rights in a globalized world. Beijing Platform for Action responded to this demand through resolutions that established the need for women to strengthen their skills, knowledge, and possibilities of access and appropriation of ICTs. When in 2000 the women’s movement and the governments started to evaluate the first five years of Beijing Platform for Action implementation, they found that gender differences and disparities were overlooked by ICT development and dissemination policies and programs. It became clear, then, the need for exploring and implementing actions for avoiding new ways of exclusion that would assure women and girls’ equality of access and opportunities in the development of science, technologies and insertion in the information society. Based on the existing political consensus, the region’s governments proposed during the Preparing Committee’s for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society meetings for elaborating the Action Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean for the 2005-2007 y 2007-2010eLAC periods. Today, the process is in its third phase, with the implementation of the eLAC Plan 2015, approved in Lima in 2010. For developing all three plans, advocacy and the coordinated work on the part of Latin American civil society organizationsmainly articulated by the Women´s Rights Program (former Program of Support for Women’s Networks) of the Association for Progress of Communications, with support of academics and researches from area, was key for including a gender thematic from a transversal perspective. In spite of these consensus and respective implementations in the region, an absence of political will and strategic vision for implementing and fomenting public policies focusing on ICT access that take into account the needs and expectations of rural women. This is even more so for the case of young rural women. Trends in International Cooperation There is no systematized data about the impact of international cooperation specifically focusing on ICTs and development, and it is even less the case for projects focusing on young rural women in Latin America. In general, in 1990 and the first decade of 2000, cooperation agencies for development granted a significant amount of resources for strengthening projects within the field of ICTs. These projects include strategies of public access, such as information centers or telecenters, digital alphabetization and digital competencies, as well as services and resources for e-health and e-agriculture. Along with the lack of focalization, another problem is that according to the interviewed specialists, international cooperation has progressively stopped considering Latin America as a priority in relation to issues such as ICTs, and digital social inclusion. In the region,it is only maintained in countries with high rates of underdevelopment and gender inequality, such as Paraguay and Bolivia. In this context some experiences are shown from some existing initiatives, but they are still fragmented and they are carried out in a not too favorable context in terms of public policies. They also show that it is necessaryto strengthen and promote studies and research that allow the systematization and follow of the outcomes and impacts of projects financed by the international cooperation.
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www.nuevastrenzas.org Some Examples of Work with ICTs and Young Rural Women Regarding the analysis of the experiences previously mentioned and the projects implemented in different Latin American countries during the last decades, their contribution for strengthening access and use of ICTs among Latin American women must be highlighted. These experiences arise from the work of organizations or foundations devoted to topics related to ICTs and development, social inclusion or women. In this sense, the following advantages may be found: 1. They strengthen basic digital alphabetization, with added value in the progressive development of digital competencies through training experiences that include innovative methodologies. 2. They may be linked to initiatives for micro-social ventures or undertakings related to local agriculture, arts and crafts, and other services. 3. They may also be linked to initiatives focusing on civil-political empowerment and citizen participation for strengthening the work and management skills of women, especially of leaders of organizations and collectives. It must be pointed out that in none of these cases the specific beneficiary population comprised young rural women. They include women of the different ages within a general urban-rural context. In some cases indigenous women are also included. Conclusions, projections and recommendations The analyzed experiences in this study account forthe variety of benefits and opportunities linked to women’s ICT access. Projects for accessing ICTs for training in digital alphabetization is not only an opportunity for overcoming fears or for learning to use a computer or the Internet; it is also an opportunity for understanding and experiencing their use in everyday life taking into account social roles and daily routines. A key issue in this discussion is related to a broader perspective of gender and information and communication technologies. This is linked to the question of the number of women who access digital connectivity services and mainly to the issueof how to tackle qualitatively gender equality challenges regarding digital social inclusion and other situations related to social gaps that still prevail in the region’s countries, especially when looking at rural women in general. Regarding public policies there is a big gap between the statements made by the region’s governments, expressed in spaces of public policies discussion-such as the Regional Dialogue for Information Society promoted by Cepal-and the lack of concrete policies for putting these declarations into operation. The creation of a working group in the gender field looking to come up with recommendations for these discussions and debates has not yet allowed to move forward as expected for promoting processes of social inclusion and equality and gender perspective. This becomes more intense in the field of Latin American women: it has not been addressed from their social and economic, ethnic, educational-cultural diversity, and age diversity. Finally, the analysis of the general trends and concrete experiences included in this document shows the existence of a new research agenda. This is a challenge for both the academic world and the development community. In this sense: a) There is the need for spaces such as Nuevas Trenzas that allow propose research on ICTs in a homogenous manner. That is to say, an approach in which the needs, possibilities and desires of specific population groups are taken into account. These studies highlight the need to move beyond stereotypes, in this case, concerning young rural women. They also show the need to know in depth dynamics of social change promoted by ICTs the continent’s rural areas.
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www.nuevastrenzas.org b) It is necessary to create a bank or an observatory for experiences targeting ICT projects for young rural women. This initiative must allow systematizing, analyzing and highlighting lessons learnt, as well as good practices. Like so, the circulation of knowledge among professionals in charge of research projects and among young rural women leaders or members of communities or collectives. c) It is important to promote work with other academic and civil society´s networks organizations that have focused in ICT related topics, especially from the perspective of human development, gender and rural development. That is the case of the Association for the Progress of Communications, the e-agriculture.org initiative and others such as the UNESCO’s Regional Chair for Women, Science and Technology. Likewise, associative networks of Latin American rural women aiming at promoting workshops, seminaries and eventually a joint work agenda.
To access the full Spanish version of this document go to Nuevas Trenza’s website.
www.nuevastrenzas.org Nuevas Trenzas is possible thanks to the financial support of:
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