Information and Communication Technologies for Women's Socioeconomic Empowerment

The purpose of this report is to provide the reader with an overview of some of the issues relating to women and information and communication technology (ICT) in the developing world in contrast to the developed world. Where possible, men's engagement will be added also as a contrast, but the focus of this working paper is on women, not gender. This is not to suggest that a focus on gender is not of value, it is. But understanding the unique perspectives of women is the first step in addressing the larger issues of diversity and, specifically, gender, which has started to receive much attention from other organizations. This paper presents how and why ICT impact women and men differently and the implications of women's lack of engagement, participation, and leadership in the knowledge society through ICT for business and development. The paper will also highlight examples of best practices and weaknesses in assumed best practices to provide opportunities for full scale execution of efforts to achieve measurable outcomes in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). An important focus is the need to move many of the carefully incubated gender policies and initiatives, developed through thoughtful leadership in specialized women's programs, into the mainstream. This will help ensure that well-designed initiatives do not inadvertently become 'ghettoized' or ignored by the mainstream programs that desperately need the knowledge to enhance and achieve their outcome goals.