Empowering Women and Girls
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of The Catholic Commission for Social Justice (8th March 2004)
Today is International Women’s Day. I wish to focus on: Empowering Women and Girls using information and communication technology (ICT).
Society needs the full input of all its citizens, and communities have everything to gain from women achieving equality.ICTs have the potential to lift up the lives of women and girls. However, for them to advance democracy must advance as well – a democracy in which their rights are embedded and equality of opportunity is promoted. ICTs are useful tools for poverty reduction, sustainable development, and promoting gender equality.
Hamelink defines ICT as encompassing “all those technologies that enable the handling of information and facilitate different forms of communication among human actors, between human beings and electronic systems, and among electronic systems.”
I prefer Denise Cheung’s ‘definition’:
“…ICT can be understood in the widest sense so as to facilitate contexualization – in a way appropriate to the 'local context' of the users and controlled by the users. 'Technology' carries a biased connotation implying productions from laboratory or factory, thus 'disqualifying' anything other than that, such as indigenous knowledge or in our case traditional ways of communications. So I would prefer to use 'technology/medium' in order to enable a wider understanding of means for information handling and communication.
“From email and Internet to radio and television, from drama, songs, role plays to gossips in the market place should all be counted as 'medium'…Particularly, marginalized / traditional means should be resurrected to enjoy the same status as other information and communication technologies and be addressed in the information and communication policies.
“Innovations and convergence of diverse media of information and communication should also be supported, and alternative and editorially independent public media too. The purpose of these strategies is to facilitate contextualization of ICT designs and policies controlled by the users to fit their diverse local context.”
I would add to her list, story-telling, poetry, calypso and other aspects of our rich oral tradition in the Caribbean the status of which should not be marginalised. Our oral tradition is a valid medium of information and communication and is integral to our culture.
We need to become more strategic and focused in our ICT development efforts. How best can we increase access to ICTs, particularly by women and girls, adapt them to their needsaccording to their ages, aptitudes, abilities, social circumstances and so on, and use them creatively and effectively to promote gender equality; creating opportunities for social and economic development of women and girls?
To answer this question and others, we need, inter alia, to
-develop our awareness of the nature, effects and extent of gender inequality in T&T and the challenges of empowering women and girls
-analyse how ICT might address these challenges. How can ICT initiatives be embedded in a deeper understanding of the complex causes of gender inequality?
-map out openly and honestly where we are on the ICT continuum. What are the requirements for information and communication? What is the appropriate ‘handling medium’? What infrastructure do we need to meet the challenges of ICT – including literacy and appropriate training?
-identify and learn from best practices in the field of ICT and use these to inform the development of a strategic plan for women and girls. The formulation of any ICT plan must involve the active participation of women and girls.
Kerry McNamara’s words are meaningful to us as a ‘Developing Country’:
“…Fewer people in poverty, more vibrant developing country economies, more responsive government institutions, reduced disease and illiteracy, greater gender equality – are the ultimate measure of the value and impact of ICTs in development.”
Our leaders must ensure that ICTs benefit our society. Clearly, ICTs on their own will not bring about gender equality. They are means to other ends. ICTs enable change; they do not create it. We need to harness them as tools of development that can facilitate desired changes e.g. in institutional performance; in the livelihoods of women and girls; in facilitating greater efficiency and transparency in government’s policies, procedures and practices.
As McNamara states, the proper approach to harnessing ICTs for development, poverty reduction and gender equality is to maintain them as tools of, and subordinate them to, broader strategies and programmes for building opportunities and empowering the poor, women and girls. Mainstreaming ICTs into broader gender equality strategies means seeing ICTs as one of many important tools, along with policies, money, institutions, human capacity, and political will, among others.
Information is power. ICTs can help to cultivate women’s/girls’ sense of control over their own lives; develop their awareness of values, attitudes, structures and practices around them that need changing; develop their knowledge and confidence in their capacity to bring about change through their collective strength; eliminate the sense of isolation and powerlessness that often plague their lives, particularly those in rural areas. The sharing of information and participation in the communication process can be liberating.
The work of the Network of NGOs of T&T for the Advancement of Women offers a wonderful opportunity to promote the empowerment of our women and girls. There is strength in unity; through women and girls organizing, building up and strengthening networks and alliances among themselves on the basis of shared interest; ‘mobilizing themselves around self-defined concerns and priorities’. (Kabeer)
Empowering women and girls through ICTs involves encouraging non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the print and electronic media. We need media policies that are more gender sensitive and that provide a balanced, non-stereotyped portrayal of women’s and girls’ diverse lives and contributions to society.
The continued projection of negative, violent and degrading images of women and girls, including pornography, and stereotyped portrayals of women in the media negatively affect women and their participation in society and hinder their empowerment. Women and girls must pull their weight in promoting positive images of themselves. We must cultivate self-consciousness regarding women's sense of selfhood and their perceptions of their place in society. Respect for self is a key dimension of ‘empowerment’.
ICTs can be used effectively to promote women’s and girls’ human rights e.g. in their families, homes and at work; in our health care, education and housing systems, and so on; to lobby for policy change; to gain and maintain access to decision-making positions in society. ICTs can provide positive role models through various strategies thus helping, in the long term, to transform values, attitudes and behaviour.
Human dignity encompasses all human beings – women, men,girls and boys. Despite everything that women and girls have endured and are still enduring, we must not lose sight of their inherent dignity and their achievements.
My Commission would like each individual to dedicate the hour between 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm this evening as a time for prayer and reflection, thanking God for His gift of women and girls and for their achievements, and praying for a conversion of hearts so that everyone will treat them in the manner that God intends.