Empowering Women: Promoting Skill Transfer Through ICTs

This article explores how information and communication technologies (ICTs) become a consequence of the digital divide when it comes to the underprivileged. Gurumurthy describes that individuals who "are not connected to telecommunication networks are also those not privileged to be part of human networks that
bring tangible and intangible benefits." This article looks at how skills and knowledge are positioned within the ICT for development paradigm and
how they are "not consistent with the social and ethical objectives of education."

Within the ICT debate, Gurumurthy's view is that "skill transfer has been positioned within the framework of the market" rather than in context of development. She suggests that the poorest need livelihood skills and that "their freedom from poverty is predicated also upon a whole range of other skills that can empower them socially and politically, and these capacities lie beyond the framework and logic of the market."

Gurumurthy points out that there is an appearance of a "win-win situation" for corporations because they get local produce for their global markets while local farmers are provided cutting-edge information and ‘assured’ incomes. According to Gurumurthy "almost invariably, this arrangement is a zero-sum game for local populations because the ICT infrastructure and communication media are controlled not by local people but by the corporates."

Gurumurthy suggests that development goals can only be attained if information and skill transfer is based on a "social justice approach" that seek to
"build new webs of exchange and expand existing webs" so that individuals who are traditionally marginalised and have limited access to information resources may be included. Gurumurthy suggests that if skills were defined beyond employment related skills to include, for example, such practical things such as how to use a telephone or how to negotiate with middle-men in a village, that these skills combined with ICTs could be very powerful tools for people. According to Gurumurthy, "community initiatives that train women in ICT skills can and do change women’s self-perception as well as community perception of women."

Gurumurthy suggests that the critical need is to "link women’s skills in ICTs to community needs."
Gurumurthy points out that there is now abundant evidence that software and locally produced content can make a significant difference in people's lives.
She offers radio as an example of how it can help preserve local knowledge, disseminate information and contribute toward participatory media.

Gurumurthy suggests that action is needed at two levels. Because globalised markets and market-driven ICTs undermine sustainable development models, there must be a way to develop alternatives that are built within local contexts and with the possibility of reaching mainstream institutions. Also required are skill- transfer models that use ICTs so that they become institutionalised within development departments and government and NGO strategies.

Note: This paper was presented in One World South Asia Fourth Annual Regional Meeting, March 4, 2005.