Women have minimal presence. Why?

Discussion: In the Field of ICT, Women have minimal presence. Why?

Summary:
In the field of ICT, in Nepal, we are well aware of the minimal participation of women. Many of the well-known prominent figures in ICT market are all men. And, when we do come across some women, they mostly happen to occupy positions at the lower level in the organizational hierarchy. And this is not only the scenario in the job market. In ICT courses, the percentage of girls enrolled is also very disappointing.

Take the case of Institute of Engineering (IOE) for example. In IOE, one of the most reputed institutions in Nepal, there are only 23 girls out of total of 1700 students enrolled in ICT related subjects. That’s roughly around 1.3%. This figure itself speaks volume.

So, why are women less represented in ICT sector? What are they afraid of? What are the barriers for their entry? We at Bellanet initiated a discussion on dgroups so as to come up with possible answers to the lower participation and representation of women in ICT arena.

Some of the possible reasons discussed by the dgroup members are:

1. Lack of confidence
Women are fearful of competing with male counterparts. This may be due to lack of self-confidence among women. Women’s lack of awareness and lack of access to information about their rights has made them vulnerable to subordination, exploitation and abuse.

2. Socio-cultural factor
Numerous invisible barriers limit women’s and girls’ participation in the Information Society. Women have not been raised and trained to engage in science and technology. The way a girl child is brought up, compared to boy child, is also a factor that makes a girl hesitant to choose a career in ICT. From childhood, a girl is taught to focus more in household chores rather than building their career. They are discouraged from studying science and technology, either consciously or unconsciously, by parents’ and teachers’ biases.

3. Fear of technology
By law of nature itself, women are more into traditional sciences like biology, literature rather than technology-related subjects like networking and IT. This may be due to fear of technology which is also referred to as “technophobia”. As a result, women are mostly concentrated in assembly and clerical work, while only a few are engaged in computer systems administration and technical development. Women in low-grade technical and service jobs also make up the largest group of computer users. Men continue to crowd out women in training for higher skilled work.

4. Illiteracy
Women make up nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate and 1 out of every 2 women in developing countries is illiterate. Consequently, women are more likely to lack the basic literacy and computer skills than men that would enable them to take advantage of new global communication.

5. Lack of role models
There is a lack of women role models in the field of ICT. As such, an urgent need is there to come up with success stories and case studies highlighting the victories of women so as to encourage other women to take up career in the field of ICT. There should be documentation and sharing of best cases to convince women, for example the cases of SEWA, MSSRF, ENRD etc. They can be influential in terms of providing female learners with new role models, and opening up horizons.

6. Gender insensitive ICT environment
In Nepal, there is no gender friendly ICT environment. Women are underrepresented in all decision-making structures in the ICT sector, and this undermines the negotiation of gender-sensitive investment decisions and introduction of innovative patterns, policies and standards in the ICT sector. There needs to lobbying with the government for gender friendly ICT policies, so more women are encouraged to participate in information society.

7. Gender sensitive technology:
Women not only need to have greater control over such new technologies, but these technologies in and of themselves need to be shaped and developed in a manner that they reduce women’s work burden, challenge existing gender hierarchies and empower/attract women.

8. Lack of sufficient networking
Women themselves are not realising the importance of the use of ICT. Gaining access to information and communication technologies will not, in itself, contribute to women’s advancement and social development.


Conclusions:
In summary, to increase the presence of women in the field of ICT can be grouped in five prior the discussions. First, there is a need of awareness about the benefits to be gained from information and communication technologies and the uses to which they can be put. Secondly, literacy and basic education for women is needed. Women must not be left behind in the gap between those with and without access to the new information technologies, and must be prevented from predominating among the information-poor. Third, Participation of women in senior decision-making positions and politically influential positions in the ICT sector should be encouraged. Women should be actively involved in ensuring the potential of ICTs as directed towards promoting human well-being rather than existing power monopolies. Fourth, Stereotyped views of women’s skills and abilities should be discouraged as women have made inroads into skilled jobs as software programmers or computer analysts. Such success stories should be documented so they can be influential in terms of providing female learners with new role models, and opening up horizons. Fifth, Technologies themselves need to be shaped and developed so as to promote livelihood and attract more women.