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MODULE
4
WOMEN
AND TELECENTERS
REQUIRED
TIME: 30 MINUTES
After
completing this module, participants will be able to:
- Explain
the reasons why participation by women is a critical factor
in the success of the telecenter
- Identify
barriers to women's participation
- Outline
measures to overcome those barriers
The
participation of women is a critical success factor in the establishment
of a telecenter. This is true for several reasons.
First and foremost, in most cultures women have more well developed
informal networks of communications than men. And as participants
learned earlier in this session, word-of-mouth marketing of
a telecenter is the most effective (and cost-effective) means
of outreach in many sectors.
Given
these superior informal communications networks, if your telecenter
provides useful services, both staff and clients who are women
will have more opportunity and motivation to tell others. And
the people they tell may pass the word along, even before they
have investigated the telecenter for themselves.
Because
women are more likely to be the principal caregivers in their
families, and more likely to be more involved in volunteer organizations,
and more likely to take responsibility for health care, they
also have many potential "hooks" on which to hang valuable knowledge
resources.
These information-needs lead them to focus much more quickly
on the ways that technology and the telecenter can affect their
lives and the lives of others, rather than on the operation
of the technology itself.
In
this model, then, having clients who are women is important
for the success of the telecenter.
But
it's also important to have women involved as staff for the
telecenter. Why is this?
Women
tend to be able to communicate better, in general, and when
they have understood the value of technology, they may often
be better able to help others understand this value as well.
BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION
BY WOMEN
In many
countries, there are cultural and practical barriers that may
limit participation by women in valuable activities.
These
of course vary among cultures and countries-and the response
of individual women to these barriers also varies.
However,
it's important to spend time with participants at least identifying
the barriers that they feel are operating in their societies.
School
heads and teachers from WorLD schools in Zimbabwe brainstormed
the following list of barriers to women's participation:
-
Society gives women too many responsibilities and keeps them
at home
- Husbands
and fathers will not allow 'their' women to visit such centers.
(Maybe because most of the community programmes are in the
evening.)
- E.g.,
At a certain school, women were supposed to be trained by
a woman but they refused and a male IT teacher had to be called
in. "Women have a tendency of pulling each other down." This
is evidenced in politics where more women vote and yet more
men win the elections.
There
was different view from Mr. C_____ of W_____, who said his wife
has had a different experience at the schools she heads. She
gets more support from women.
-
Women are not the income earners in a household and sometimes
they don't have access to the money that comes into the house.
Some of them may just not have money.
- They give up easily - and lack of determination?
There was a great deal of dissent from the women on this opinion.
This is by no means a definitive list. It's an example of some
of the factors that were deemed important by this group of participants.
Clearly, even within the group, there was a degree of disagreement
about the situation-and even disagreement about the social behavior
of women in general.
OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Whatever
the barriers are, women will find a way to overcome them-especially
when telecenters make special efforts to accommodate women's
interests and needs.
What
advantages does a school-based telecenter have in reaching out
to women?
School-based telecenters, essentially, belong already to the
community-they aren't established purely for profit. In addition,
schools have field or playgrounds and other facilities that
can let visiting mothers feel comfortable bringing children
with them.
What
other ways can telecenters reach out to women?
Depending
on the circumstances, a telecenter might regularly schedule
a "half-off night" for women, or offer special courses, such
as woman-only computer training sessions, or "family-centered
research skills for women."
No
preparation is necessary for this module.
If there is extra time (primarily required to cover the reporting
of results), you may wish to invite participants to work in
groups to complete worksheet 7.4: Obstacles and Opportunities.
First,
introduce the slide, "On Women and Telecenters."
What
do participants think about this statement? Does it change their
thinking to learn that the speaker, Rich Fuchs, is one of the
foremost authorities on the establishment of telecenters in
developing countries?
Continue discussion about the potential role of women in telecenters,
both as staff and as clients.
Invite
the whole group to consider obstacles to participation by women,
and then specific opportunities to enhance that participation.
KEY DIALOGUE
IDEAS
- Women's
participation is critical to the success of the telecenter
- Women
form stronger information communication networks
- Women
are well-positioned to understand the value of information
in their own lives and the lives of others
- Telecenters should take
specific steps to reach out to women
If
You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade: A Guide to the Start-up of
the African Multipurpose Community Telecentre Pilot Projects.
Richard Fuchs, Futureworks Inc. Fall, 1997.
WORKSHOP MATERIALS
See the following slides
from Session
7 Presentation (26KB):
- Women
and Telecenters - title
- Obstacles
and Opportunities
Worksheet
(to be used at facilitator's discretion):
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