188体育

Abstract

Part of 2-year Learning and Evidence Project on Women鈥檚 Voice and Leadership in Decision-Making, and communication technologies (ICTs). The review asks:

• What is the evidence on whether women and girls鈥� use of digital ICTs increases their voice and participation in public life?
• What is the evidence on whether women and girls鈥� use of digital ICTs increases their influence over decisions that affect their lives, and in ways that lead to better outcomes for them?

Key findings include:

• ICTs are a mirror on society. Social, economic and political structures 鈥� relating to gender and to class 鈥� influence how women and girls access and use digital ICTs.
• Digital ICTs can be important resources for women and girls鈥� empowerment, but this depends on which women and which context.
• Through learning new skills and using digital ICTs, women and girls have been able to build self-confidence, increase their economic power and independence and make better-informed decisions.
• Digital ICTs can also enable women to communicate with peers online, to exchange information and build solidarity and to lobby decision-makers.
• But there is only limited evidence that women鈥檚 individual or collective voice, enabled by digital ICTs, influences government policy and actions.
• Women鈥檚 access to, and use of, digital ICTs can challenge gender-based power relations. This can provoke a backlash, including in ways that increase women and girls鈥� insecurity and subordination.
• The digital divide means that, even if more women use ICTs, gender- and class-based inequalities could still increase overall.

Citation

O鈥橬eil, T.; Cummings, C. Do digital information and communications technologies increase the voice and influence of women and girls? (2015) 33 pp.

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