Do Digital Information and Communications Technologies Increase the Voice and Influence of Women and Girls?

"Digital ICTs can provide new opportunities for women to express themselves but engaging publically and politically online does not guarantee power."

What does the empirical evidence tell us about the types of interventions most likely to enable women and girls to use digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) in ways that increase their voice and participation in public life - and thus their influence over decisions that affect their lives? That is a question posed within a rapid literature review from the two-year Learning and Evidence Project on Women's Voice and Leadership in Decision-Making by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Focusing on low- and middle-income countries, the review looks in particular at women's and girls' use of digital ICTs - where communication is through computer-based systems, and including social media, peer-to-peer sharing, and interactive websites. The interactive nature of much digital ICT makes it particularly pertinent to the review: Digital ICTs hold the possibility that larger numbers of women and girls can not only receive information and ideas but also convey them (unlike some of the older ICTs like television) - and this is a necessary, if insufficient, condition for their having voice and influence. However, digital ICTs and media also represent a commercial space, influenced by private sector interests. This means existing patriarchal attitudes towards gender can be reproduced as well as challenged in the online environment in ways that can limit the potential of ICTs to be tools for women's empowerment.

Section 2 reviews theory and assumptions about digital ICTs and women's and girls' empowerment. Sample excerpt: "in the studies reviewed, there is little explicit use of social accountability frameworks to understand the potential pathways through which women's increased access to information, communication and social capital may lead them to have more influence over the decisions and behaviour of public officials. However, analysis of the literature overall suggests ICTs have the potential to change power relations in ways relevant to accountability processes in two ways. First, new ways of accessing information could disrupt information asymmetries between women and others, as women gain greater access to public policies and services relating to the redistribution of entitlements and resources, such as land and inheritance, economic and educational opportunities and control over household finances. Second, new ways of communicating could enable women to mobilise more effectively and lobby government. This involves women gaining 'power with' others and using it to have 'power over' public decisions and social norms, as well as women gaining 'power to' realise legal entitlements and access economic and educational opportunities."

Section 3 provides an overview of the nature and quality of the evidence base and the main findings. The researchers assessed 56 studies as being relevant to women's and girls' empowerment. There are 7 main findings on the potential benefits of women's use of digital ICTs (Section 4 provides a fuller discussion with citations and examples.)

1. "The process of learning to use digital ICTs can increase the self-confidence of women and girls and enable them to critically reflect on traditional gender roles and their role in a global society (i.e. increased power within).
2. Women and girls' use of digital ICTs can expose them, and their communities, to alternative representations of women. Presenting women in non-traditional roles can influence existing social attitudes towards women, on the part of men and women, and change women's personal aspirations (i.e. increased power within).
3. Learning new digital ICT skills and the use and ownership of ICT can increase women's social status (i.e. increased power to/over).
4. Gaining both skills and access to digital ICTs can provide women and girls with alternative channels for self-expression and engagement in public affairs, regardless of their physical location and if they experience gender-based constraints on their voice locally (i.e. increased power to).
5. ICT use can increase the independence of women and girls, giving them a sense of greater freedom and power to pursue activities, such as education and enterprise, including those outside their traditional gender roles (i.e. increased power to).
6. Using ICTs can be a way for women to access new opportunities in the public sphere, such as by providing them with access to information about, and online access to, education or business services. Through this, women and girls can develop greater control over their own lives (i.e. increased power to).
7. ICTs provide a new channel of communication and engagement that can make networking easier, increase social capital and facilitate the creation/growth of women's movements, and their ability to exercise oppositional voice. Sharing ideas and information online can improve offline mobilisation (i.e. increased power with).

However, there are reportedly two frequently occurring conclusions about how structural inequalities limit women's and girls' access to ICTs, and to particular groups of women's access: (i) Gender inequality: Gender norms limit women's access to and use of ICTs; also, digital ICTs can be used to repress women's voice and influence and/or increase men's control over them. Women's use of ICTs in public spaces can also provoke a backlash, both on- and offline, in ways that increase their vulnerability to experience of violence. (ii) Socioeconomic inequality: There is a common concern that, as public services, information, culture, and economic transactions increasingly occur online, those who do not have access to digital ICTs will become more marginalised.

There is less evidence on whether use of digital ICTs to increase their voice enables women and girls to have actual influence - individually or with others - over decision-making. What evidence exists focuses mostly on women and girls having more influence over personal decisions, rather than decisions made by public bodies, officials, and representatives. In sum, the research indicates that some women and girls in low- and middle-income countries actively use digital ICTs, including to exchange information and ideas with peers and the online community - but women and girls (and also men) are either largely passive in their digital relationship with public officials, or not present at all.

Section 4 summarises the evidence on whether use of digital ICTs increases women's and girls' voice and participation in public life, and the reasons for this. To cite only one example from this analysis: Some studies show that ICTs enable women to network more easily and build a sense of solidarity locally and internationally - such as one on the use of social media during the Arab Uprising. "By providing platforms for communication requiring fewer resources than mainstream media channels (and where men have less direct access over women's entry/use), social networking sites enabled women's movements to mobilise more easily (Al-Rawi, 2014). Prior to Arab Uprising events, offline feminist movements existed but had little influence, lacking an effective way of raising their issues in Arab mainstream media. In this context, social networking sites function as 'alternative media channels', and can be seen to create more space for discussion and exchange and to thus strengthen democracy (ibid.: 1150)."

Section 5 summarises the evidence on whether use of digital ICTs increases women's and girls' influence over decision-making processes, particularly public/state, and the reasons for this. It is only studies that look at how women (mostly elite) use digital ICTs to interact, mobilise, and lobby that examine women's engagement with public decision-making directly. Even here, there is no systematic research on whether digital ICTs increase the effectiveness of women's collective action, as shown by their achievement of objectives (e.g., changes in rights, policy, services, or social norms). However, included in the review are examples that studies provide on how ICTs have supported women's individual and collective action and public influence. Several authors recognise the limitations of online campaigning and emphasise that digital media alone cannot provide women with all the necessary skills for successful political engagement. And, even when women are active online, they may struggle to have presence and influence offline.

Section 6 draws out implications for international support to digital ICTs and women's and girls' voice and influence in public life. Eight recommendations for designers of digital ICT programmes supporting women's and girls' power, voice, and influence are presented. In brief:

• In order to empower women, digital ICT programmes must address gender- and class-based barriers to women's access. "For example, women in Indonesia who were trained in ICT skills gained greater status in their village but were also asked to take on administrative tasks for the local elites (Jahaj, 2013). All programming therefore needs to include gender and political economy analysis in its design and implementation and be situated within broader political and socioeconomic context."
• It is important to distinguish between women's active and passive use of digital ICTs and to ensure women have the skills to make the best use of resources once they do have access. "Policy and programmes concerning ICTs need to look beyond technical and economic factors to see the potential positive and negative impact of ICTs on society, culture, and politics (Gurumurthy et al., 2012). This could involve a government's department for ICT incorporating gender concerns into its work and the ministry for women paying attention to the impact of ICT on gender relations (ibid.)."
• There is no automatic relationship between women having more "power within" and "power to", on the one hand, and their having more "power with" and "power over", on the other. In other words, increased access to digital ICTs for women alone is not directly correlated with subsequent collective action; this goal requires additional, explicit support in programmes.
• More research is needed on when and how digital ICTs contribute to women's mobilisation around particular issues in ways that are effective in enabling them to influence decision-makers. "It is important, therefore, to view ICT as a tool alongside other considerations, such as the particular issue and who has an interest in it, the strategic choices of women's groups and the political context in which they are working."
• Whether e-government empowers women in practice depends on how activities and tools are designed and implemented and, crucially, whether women are able to actively use them. "For e-governance to have a differential impact on women and girls than on men and boys, it is important for women to have some control over how services are provided. The E-Seva programme in India showed benefits for women because women were trained in managing the ICT kiosks and had an important role in facilitating the system (Karan and Raj Mathur, 2010)."
• Programmes need to consider whether digital ICTs could increase women's insecurity and/or risk of violence. "Doing so involves respecting the 'do no harm' principle and, when women's access to ICTs may increase their power in one domain of their life but lessen it in others, identifying strategies to manage and mitigate empowerment trade-offs."
• Laws and policy governing internet use must be gender-aware and should protect users from violence and harassment. In particular, it is suggested that definitions of harm be expanded to recognise the severity of crimes such as cyber stalking, trolling, online sexual exploitation, and other violations.
• Sex-disaggregated data based on relevant standardised indicators can raise the quality of research into women's use of digital ICTs. This is important for gaining a more detailed understanding of when and how women use ICTs to increase their voice and influence.

In concluding, the researchers stress that women's and girls' empowerment, whether through use of digital ICTs or other resources, is multidimensional and non-linear. The use of digital ICTs may therefore empower women in some areas of their life while reducing their power in others - as when women have more public voice but are subjected to increased violence. The digital divide also means digital ICTs may increase the power of some women while reducing the power of others. "[P]olicies and programmes that attempt to use ICTs to increase women's voice and influence must be acutely aware of the socio-political environment in which they work, and be flexible and adaptive, constantly learning and responding to the complex and rapidly changing global information society."