Report on a presentation by Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, FemLINKPACIFIC: Media initiatives for women, Fiji.

Made at WACC's Congresss, 2008 in Cape Town

Does access to new Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs )lead to the empowerment of women? This was the central question in research undertaken over three years in the Philippines, India, Thailand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea under the coordination of ISIS-International.

While ISIS-International has championed the use of ICTs among women's and other social movement organisations, it at the same time engages women in the participatory study to explore the critical question regarding the legitimacy of thinking in international circles that ICTs are beneficial, indeed necessary, for the development and empowerment of grassroots communities.

The specific research questions were how intermediary groups (defined as organisations that target grassroots women and respond to social issues) view new ICTs, how they have used them for grassroots women's empowerment, how grassroots women themselves view empowerment and new ICTs and how the work of intermediary groups has made an impact in their lives.

FemLINKPACIFIC in Fiji was one of the five country partners for the research. Sharon BhagwanRolls who led the team of researchers from femLINKPACIFIC presented a case study of the research. She explained the significance of the study, the research process, the findings, lessons learnt and recommendations for policy and practice.

Research Findings

Technical barriers

While the internet, email, computers and mobile phones have much to offer, these are the least accessible to ordinary women. “Technology deprivation” is a result of the absence of the necessary infrastructure such as electricity and networks particularly in rural areas. Low levels of technological literacy among rural women and high costs of the new technology render new ICTs inaccessible.

In effect, according to the research report, the researchers found new ICTs to be more useful in 'addressing the administrative concerns of organisations and in communicating outside of immediate community spaces'.

Oral Communications

The most empowering way of sharing information between intermediary groups and grassroots women remain oral communications, that is, story telling, popular theatre and face-to-face interaction. Interpersonal relationships are crucial for women's engagement in development projects and activities, in empowering women. The personal and human touch still overrides everything and should not be ignored despite the prevalence and power of new technologies.

Old is Gold

The study found communications tools such as radio and film to be the most effective tools in interacting with grassroots women. Radio was identified as the most accessible communications tool for grass-roots women in four of the five countries studied, namely, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, India and the Philippines. Television was the most popular medium in Thailand. The popularity of radio stems from several factors. Radio reaches rural areas unlike other media whose reach is often times confined to rural areas. Radio is linguistically flexible given the possibility of using vernacular languages. Literacy is not an issue for radio, access costs are relatively low, electricity is not required and the technology is simple and easy to use.

Print media in the form of books, newsletters, posters and brochures were rated highly in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, especially given the lack of electricity for large segments of the Pacific Islands' populations.

Women’s Realities to access information

One lesson learnt regards women's realities in terms of access to information. A woman's personal empowerment is closely linked to the availability of information in a format that she can understand or share further. Planning developments relating to new ICTs need to consider infrastructure issues, whether communities are able to contribute to local programming. There is an information and digital divide that exists in most societies, in particular between the urban and rural areas, between women and men, young and old, the disabled and those who do not suffer from disabilities.

The research reaffirmed the role of women's media, information and communication networks.

Research recommendations

The information society should be pluralistic and grounded in the practices of those at its core, that is, the people. There is a need for a more women-centered approach to information and communication, with a focus on developing community-centered information and media forms.

Access to information is a most powerful way to invest in women and girls especially in rural areas and remote communities. Information and communication networks should be strengthened to help overcome access and lack of information issues. This will contribute to addressing the ongoing marginalization of women.

The research report concludes that although 'new ICTs were not seen as empowering or effective communication tools, the lack of access to new ICTs further widens the divides that marginalise grassroots women. (Research report)

Beyond the issue of exclusion is the need for a more gendered understanding of the 'information society' phenomenon. [there is] also a need to recognize the value of communication in feminist and social movements'. (Research report)

The research report is published by Isis-International Manila in 'People’s Communications for Development: How intermediary groups use communication tools for grassroots women’s empowerment' (2007) edited by Tesa Casal de Vela and Mira Alexis P. Ofreneo.

The other country partners for the study were Aalochana Centre for Documentation and Research on Women in India, Civil Media Development Institute in Thailand and Help Resources Inc. in Papua New Guinea.

Contact FemLinkPACIFIC at www.femlinkpacific.org.fj

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