Gender and the Digital Economy : Perspectives from the Developing World

In the discourse on information and communications technologies (ICTs), the focus has been on the, sometimes negative, relocation of jobs from the developed world. This book focuses, instead, on the positive aspects of the introduction of ICTs and shows how they can empower women and make a difference in today's uneven development process. It illustrates, with case studies from Argentina, Morocco, India, Malaysia and the Philippines, how economic empowerment can change the position of women within their families and workplaces. This book shows how to: - distinguish between liberal and neo-liberal theoretical paradigms while analyzing 'informational capitalism'; - interrogate the silence and ambiguity among scholars and practitioners regarding gender equality, ICTs and human development; - avoid imposing canons of Western feminism in assessing the benefits of e-trade in societies where social norms are different; and - incorporate feminist principles of inclusion, user-developer interaction and transparency while designing ICT initiatives. Gender and the Digital Economy is an excellent resource for academic researchers, NGOs and industry analysists in the field of international development communication.