ICTs and the empowerment of women in rural Uganda

This study contributes to feminist discourse by providing insights into the unique experiences of women living in rural Uganda in relation to ICT usage and its potential for women's empowerment. This in response to a need to question the frequent development argument that ICTs are a panacea for women's problems including gender inequality. The findings point to the fact that women's exposure to ICTs may result to some changes and redefine how they view themselves and relate with those around them but these changes are not always synonymous with empowerment. Interaction with ICTs sometimes produced negative impacts rather than the promised benefits. It could also be argued that these challenges could just be experienced at the beginning of women's relationship with ICTs but as people get more acquainted with the technologies they could negotiate ways out of oppressive circumstance by further changing behaviour.

Autorentext

Patricia Litho is a Media and Communication Specialist with research interests in new media for women and young people, gender representations in the media, media literacy and business communication.Currently living in Uganda; Patricia lectures at the department of Journalism and Communication of Makerere University.