Abstract
Technology has a lot to offer women in both their public and private lives. In view of this, the Strategic Development Goal (SDG) 5b seeks to utilize enabling technology, particularly information and communications technology, for the empowerment of women. Through a desk review, this chapter looked at the position of African women in the development, deployment, and utilization of technology in the broad sense with special focus on information and communication technology. Factors that inhibit women’s full utilization of technology and some policy directives have also been enumerated in the chapter. Various interventions in the area of women and technologies have yielded results. African women are not only users of technology, but they are breaking through as developers in the technology space as well. In spite of infrastructural and socioeconomic challenges, women in Africa are capable of harnessing the full potential of technology to improve their lives. They should therefore be perceived as such and be supported accordingly.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alozie, N. O., & Akpan-Obong, P. (2017). The digital gender divide: Confronting obstacles to Women’s development in Africa. Development Policy Review, 35(2), 137–160. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12204.
Andela. (2019). About us. Retrieved from https://andela.com/about/ May 29, 2019.
Asongu, S. A., & Nwachukwu, J. C. (2018). Openness, ICT and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. Information Technology and People, 31(1), 278–303. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2017-0033 September 10, 2018.
AU. (2018). AU hosts 2018 Girls in ICT Day. Retrieved from https://aufoundation.africa/au-hosts-2018-girls-in-ict-day/ January 30, 2019.
AWIT. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://africanwomenintech.com/about-us/ May 30, 2019.
Bailur, S., Masiero, S., & Tacchi, J. (2018). Gender, mobile, and development: The theory and practice of empowerment. Introduction. Information Technologies & International Development (Special Edition), 14, 96–104.
Bhandari, A. (2019). Gender inequality in mobile technology access: The role of economic and social development. Information, Communication & Society, 22(5), 678–694. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1563206. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1563206, May 28, 2019.
Bisimwa, K., Brown, I., & Johnston, K. J. (2018). Mobile phones use by urban refugees in South Africa: Opportunities and challenges. Scholarspace.Manoa.Hawaii.Edu. Retrieved from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/50158, September 10, 2018.
Brännström, I. (2012). Gender and digital divide 2000-2008 in two low-income economies in sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya and Somalia in official statistics. Government Information Quarterly, 29(1), 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2011.03.004.
Carvalho, N., Chaim, O., Cazarini, E., & Gerolamo, M. (2018). Manufacturing in the fourth industrial revolution: A positive prospect in sustainable manufacturing. Procedia Manufacturing, 21, 671–678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2018.02.170.
Chib, A. (2010). The Aceh Besar midwives with mobile phones project: Design and evaluation perspectives using the information and communication technologies for healthcare development model. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(3), 500–525. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2010.01515.x.
Correa, T. (2014). Bottom-up technology transmission within families: Exploring how youths influence their parents’ digital media use with dyadic data. Journal of Communication, 64(1), 103–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12067.
Csikszentmihalyi, C., Mukundane, J., Rodrigues, G. F., Mwesigwa, D., & Kasprzak, M. (2018). The space of possibilities: Political economies of technology innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – CHI’18, pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173880.
Developers in Vogue (2019). Developers in Vogue. Retrieved from: https://developersinvogue.org May 28, 2019
Dlodlo, N. (2009). Access to ICT education for girls and women in rural South Africa: A case study. Technology in Society, 31(2), 168–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2009.03.003.
Dombrowski, U., & Wagner, T. (2014). Mental strain as field of action in the 4th industrial revolution. Procedia CIRP, 17, 100–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2014.01.077.
Efobi, U. R., Tanankem, B. V., & Asongu, S. A. (2018). Female economic participation with information and communication technology advancement: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. South African Journal of Economics, 86(2), 16.
Ekwealor, V. (2016). 5 powerful women in African tech you probably never heard of. Retrieved from https://techpoint.africa/2016/06/14/powerful-women-african-tech/ May 30, 2019.
Etzo, S., & Collender, G. (2010). The mobile phone “revolution” in Africa: Rhetoric or reality? African Affairs, 109(437), 659–668. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adq045.
Graham, S. (2018). A shifting frontier: How mobile money is reshaping the gender gap in financial inclusion. Retrieved from https://finca.org/blogs/how-mobile-money-is-reshaping-the-gender-gap-in-financial-inclusion/ January 30, 2019.
Hilbert, M. (2011). Digital gender divide or technologically empowered women in developing countries? A typical case of lies, damned lies, and statistics. Women’s Studies International Forum, 34(6), 479–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2011.07.001.
Hudson, H. E., Leclair, M., Pelletier, B., & Sullivan, B. (2017). Using radio and interactive ICTs to improve food security among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Telecommunications Policy, 41(7–8), 670–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2017.05.010.
ITU. (2017). ICT facts and figures. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2017.pdf, May 28, 2019.
ITU. (2018). ICTS, LDCs and the SDGs – Achieving universal and affordable Internet in the least developed countries, 1–128. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ldc/D-LDC-ICTLDC-2018-PDF-E.pdf, February 21, 2019.
ITU. (2019). Digital inclusion: Gender. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/2019-PR05.aspx, May 28, 2019.
Kim, J. (2018). Are countries ready for the new meso revolution? Testing the waters for new industrial change in Korea. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 132(September 2017), 34–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.11.006.
Kinya, W. (2017). Why the world needs Africa’s women developer. Retrieve from https://news.itu.int/why-the-world-needs-africas-women-developers/, May 28, 2019.
Kwami, J. D. (2016). Development from the margins? Mobile technologies, transnational Mobilities, and livelihood practices among Ghanaian women traders. Communication, Culture and Critique, 9(1), 148–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12136.
Kwapong, O. (2005). Exploring innovative approaches for using ICT for rural women’s adult education in Ghana. Ajol.Info. Retrieved from https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjds/article/view/35026, September 10, 2018.
Kwapong, O. A. T. F. (2007). Widening access to tertiary education for women in Ghana through distance education. Dergipark.Ulakbim.Gov.Tr. Retrieved from http://dergipark.ulakbim.gov.tr/tojde/article/view/5000102771 September 10, 2018.
Kwapong, O. A. T. F. (2008). Policy implications for using ICTs for empowerment of rural women in Ghana. ERIC. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1102936, September 10, 2018.
Kwapong, O. A.T. F. (2009). A comparison of ICT knowledge and usage among female distance learners in endowed and deprived communities of a developing country, 6. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2009.6.2.164.
Kwapong, O. (2010). Equitable access: Information and communication technology for open and distance learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YObdCx5iFXUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2007&dq=OLIVIA+KWAPONG&ots=fdIfnX7RbL&sig=MXPbFFffBJirVecs-X8JXddifV0, September 10, 2018.
Lepoutre, J., & Oguntoye, A. (2018). The (non-)emergence of mobile money systems in sub-Saharan Africa: A comparative multilevel perspective of Kenya and Nigeria. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 131, 262–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.11.010.
Leslie Steeves, H., & Kwami, J. (2017). Interrogating gender divides in technology for education and development: The case of the one laptop per child project in Ghana. Studies in Comparative International Development, 52(2), 174–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-017-9245-y.
Masika, R., & Bailur, S. (2015). Negotiating Women’s agency through ICTs: A comparative study of Uganda and India. Gender, Technology and Development, 19(1), 43–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971852414561615.
Msoffe, G., Chengula, A., Kipanyula, M. J., Mlozi, M. R. S., & Sanga, C. A. (2018). Poultry farmers’ information needs and extension advices in Kilosa, Tanzania: Evidence from mobile-based extension, advisory and learning system (MEALS). Library Philosophy and Practice, (February), 1–17. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2007090626?accountid=26666%0A, http://yh8zs7tr6m.search.serialssolutions.com/directLink?&atitle=Poultry+Farmers%27+Information+needs+and+Extension+advices+in+Kilosa%2C+Tanzania%3A+Evidence+from+Mobile-based+Extension%2C+A, September 10, 2018.
Olatokun, W. (2007). Availabilty, accessbility and use of. ICT by Nigerian women academics, 12(2), 13–33.
Olatokun, W., Wyche, S., Wide, W., & Foundation, W. (2017). Exploring women’s everyday mobile phone experiences in Nairobi, Kenya. Interacting with Computers, 12(3), 391–402.
Oreglia, E., & Srinivasan, J. (2016). ICT, intermediaries, and the transformation of gendered power structures. MIS Quarterly, 40(2), 501–510. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2016/40.2.13.
Otte, P. P., Tivana, L. D., Phinney, R., Bernardo, R., Piroschka, P., Tivana, L. D., & Bernardo, R. (2018). The importance of gender roles and relations in rural agricultural technology development : A case study on solar fruit drying in Mozambique. Gender, Technology and Development, 0(0), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2018.1444442.
Porter, G., Hampshire, K., Abane, A., Munthali, A., Robson, E., Tanle, A., & Bango, A. (2018). Connecting with home, keeping in touch: Physical and virtual mobility across stretched families in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa, 88(2), 404–424. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972017000973.
Pretorius, H. W., Mawela, T., Strydom, I., de Villiers, C., & Johnson, R. D. (2015). Continuing the discourse of women in information technology: A south African perspective. Gender, Technology and Development, 19(3), 346–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971852415597100.
Rashid, A. T. (2016). Digital inclusion and social inequality: Gender differences in ICT access and use in five developing countries. Gender, Technology and Development, 20(3), 306–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971852416660651.
Sekabira, H., & Qaim, M. (2017). Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda. Food Policy, 73, 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.10.004.
Sene, F. (2018). Young African women turn to coding. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2017-march-2018/young-african-women-turn-coding, May 28, 2019.
Sherrie, P. (2018). Top 5 female programmers (coders) in Africa. Retrieved from http://clickbrick.tech/2018/03/08/top-5-female-programmers-africa/, May 29, 2019.
Uduji, J. I., & Okolo-Obasi, E. N. (2018). Young rural women’s participation in the e-wallet programme and usage intensity of modern agricultural inputs in Nigeria. Gender, Technology and Development, 22(1), 59–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2018.1445894.
UN. (1995). Beijing declaration and platform for action. In The Fourth World Conference on Women. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf, September 4, 2018.
UN. (2018). Progress towards the sustainable development goals, 1–19. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2018/secretary-general-sdg-report-2018%2D%2DEN.pdf, February 21, 2019.
UN. (n.d.). Strategic development goals. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/, February 21, 2019.
Van Dijk, J. A. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4-5):221–235.
Veselinovic, M. (2016). Want to join the world’s most exclusive all-female developer team? Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/24/africa/andela-all-female-team/index.html, May 28, 2019.
Watkins, J. O. T., Goudge, J., Gómez-Olivé, F. X., & Griffiths, F. (2018). Mobile phone use among patients and health workers to enhance primary healthcare: A qualitative study in rural South Africa. Social Science & Medicine, 198(January), 139–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2018.01.011.
World Bank. (2016). World development report. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/365728569/World-Development-Report-2016-pdf, September 4, 2018.
Wyche, S. (2017). Exploring women’ s everyday Mobile phone experiences in Nairobi, Kenya. Interacting with Computers, 29(3), 391–402.
Wyche, S., & Olson, J. (2018). Kenyan women’ s rural realities, Mobile internet access, and “Africa rising”. Information Technologies & International Development, 14, 33–47.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Frimpong Kwapong, O.A.T. (2021). African Women, Technology, and ICTs. In: Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28099-4_110
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28099-4_110
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-28098-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28099-4
eBook Packages: HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities