Abstract
D.Phil. (Engineering Management)
Women play a major role in the society as caregivers, communicators and providers. Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) help to co-ordinate some aspects of rural women’s life, and their future rural economy will be information and knowledge-driven one. Rural women’s participation in decision-making and contribution to the male-dominated ICT environment are of growing importance. This research will guide us to rethink how rural women’s use of ICTs can provide them more opportunities and improve their quality of life. In this research we analyze what constitutes rural women empowerment through the use of ICTs, and provide an overview of empowerment indicators. This research will focus on the provisioning of ICT in rural areas in South Africa and women’s inherent abilities to contribute to the socio-economic status of households using ICTs. The aim of this research is to address the gendered digital divide and empower rural women in South Africa through the use of ICT. If rural women are given the opportunity for capacity building, ICT training and development they will be ready to take the ICT leap in the coming years. The research highlights gender-sensitive issues such as feminisms and women’s development through ICTs. The qualities of the empowered women and the elements of rural women empowerment through the use of ICTs are elaborated. The discussions on various data collection methods suited for feminist research and specifically for ICT for women’s development (ICT4WD) research is presented. The theories, paradigms and African belief systems underpinning women empowerment are carefully analyzed. The research reveals ICT projects used to empower women in many developing countries and throws light on shortcomings of the South African legal frameworks that have implications on rural women empowerment. A theoretical framework is developed for rural women empowerment though the use of ICTs. The framework serves as a guiding principle to revisit the SA B-BBEE legal framework and BEE ICT score-card. Some light will be thrown on the plight of rural women in South Africa and various challenges they face to use and access ICT. We believe this research paves the way to critically think about women’s issues and how to empower the disempowered rural women living in South Africa through ICTs. The research focuses on the effective strategies, through the framework that would contribute to empower the disempowered rural women in South Africa through ICTs.