Gender and Information Technology in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Information technology (IT) is transforming our personal, social, cultural, economic and political lives. But women in developing countries do not have equal access to knowledge, due to the fact that they do not have access to the new technologies at the same level as western European women. They need to understand the significance of new technologies and use them in relevant fields. IT can offer immense opportunities for virtually all girls and women in developing countries, including poor women living in rural areas. Developing countries like Bangladesh are usually seen as problematic hosts for ITs because most developing regions of the country lack economic resources and indigenous techno-scientific capabilities to develop and deploy IT infrastructures. The regions also tend not to make the best use of opportunities of technology transfer. The wider adoption of IT in the 1990s promised a globally connected community of equal participants in electronic networks. The Internet has enabled people to communicate regardless of race, sex, physical ability, location and social background (GVU, 1998). IT now offers access to a huge pool of information. The Internet enables worldwide communication that is cheaper, faster and more flexible than older media like e-mail, telephone, telex or fax.