WOMEN’SNET: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

TO EMPOWER WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA

by Lydia Levin

Introduction

A 1998 Internet user survey in South Africa showed that the profile of the average Internet user is as follows: he is white, 35 years old, earns an above average wage and has at least one year of higher education. Eighty-one percent of Internet users are men and 19% are women. This picture does not show the current state of the Internet as a medium for enhancing equality or empowerment. It does, however, present a challenge for development practitioners who see its potential and are seeking ways of using it in disadvantaged and disempowered communities.

The South African Constitution, enacted in 1994, brought constitutional equality to women in South Africa. Under the apartheid regime women had held second-class status to men, and black women endured particular economic and racial discrimination. Since 1994, several government bodies have been set up to work specifically toward women’s rights and equality. These include the Office on the Status of Women in the Deputy President’s Office, the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), and the Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Women. Government departments also established “gender desks.” South Africa ratified the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995, which further binds the country to compliance with certain international equality standards for women. While the constitutional and legal framework enable equality for women, they are simply the foundations for beginning to develop women’s equality in any meaningful way.

Women who have used information and communication technologies (ICTs) have benefited from the sharing of information and communication. They recognize that these are key resources in the pursuit of equality and development. Through the setting up of Women’sNet (womensnet.org.za), they have begun a process of developing and sharing gender information in South Africa. This article looks at the work undertaken by Women’sNet, which aims to use electronic information and communication as a tool to empower and gain equality for South African women.

Identifying Needs

Before the inception of Women’sNet, a brief survey of the Internet would have shown a number of problems in relation to South African women’s presence on the Internet. These include:

--    No South African cyberspace was dedicated to the empowerment of South African women.

--    There was no information and communication forum focusing on women’s development.

--    There were no interactive communication forums for sharing ideas.

--    No clearinghouse existed of relevant, locally-produced information on women’s development in South Africa.

--    Relevant and useful documents were scattered on other sites.

--    Few of the documents available in print relating to women’s empowerment were also available online.

--    Much of the available print information produced by NGOs constituted “grey” or informal literature and did not enjoy wide distribution or exposure.

--    Many “empowered” women, although having Internet facilities, were not using them fully and were certainly not contemplating publishing electronically.

The issues above include problems of content, communication and coordination. The mere existence and availability of ICTs is not sufficient to ensure their use in a particular area. While some women had been active in using the Internet and e-mail, the overall situation did not present a positive picture of ICTs use by women. Women’s efforts to establish their equality in civil society and government were not being reflected in, or assisted by, the very powerful medium of ICTs.

There are certain basic components to the communication and transmission of information that enable it to be meaningful and sustainable. These include: 

--    partners or a network with which to communicate;

--    shared interest;

--    information to communicate;

--    an accessible and user-friendly means of communication; and

--    skills to use the medium.

Programmes that promote the medium without content cannot succeed. This important issue was recognized from the outset by Women’sNet, which is a project of the Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT).

The range and type of information needed includes:

--    information to assist women in full participation in society;

--    relevant information for promoting women’s development in South Africa;

--    laws, policy documents and legislative processes on issues affecting women;

--    women’s activities and activism;

--    women’s issues in South Africa and globally;

--    promotion of women’s leadership and role models;

--    information about equality and democracy and the way in which women can promote their own equality; and

--    topics approached from a gendered perspective.

Setting Up Women’sNet

Women’sNet was set up as a project of SANGONeT (an electronic network that has been running since 1988 and is a member of the Association for Progressive Communications) in partnership with the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE). The CGE is a statutory body set up to promote and protect gender equality by advising government on legislation affecting gender issues and the status of women. These two organizations took the initiative to bring together 33 women from organizations around the country, plus input from the Association of Progressive Communications to shape a project that could meet present needs. The creative output of this brainstorming showed the high level of interest among participants for an electronic platform to promote gender equality in South Africa.

The women developed a mission statement for Women’sNet and provided information that would serve as a blueprint to guide the further development of Women’sNet. The blueprint provided information on questions such as:

--    Why does Women’sNet exist?

--    Who do we serve and why?

--    What products/services do we want to offer?

--    What do we want to achieve in the future?

--    How can we make this happen?

The women defined the goals for Women’sNet in the areas of:

--    governance;

--    constituencies and their needs;

--    extending Women’sNet to other media;

--    training; and

--    information sources.

While all felt that they would participate in and benefit from dedicated electronic space, they recognized that the challenge would be to create a project that benefited more than just a small elite who already have access to ICTs. The priority would be to target women who historically have been prevented from accessing ICTs. Women’sNet would therefore need to reach out to women in all possible ways, including those without computers and Internet access. E-mail-to-print and e-mail-to-radio are two such means of increasing access to information. It is interesting to note, however, that even among relatively computer- and Internet-aware women, there is still a need for learning about the technology, its use and capabilities. Most women who helped shape the project were not using ICTs optimally and wanted to benefit from training offered by Women’sNet.

An Advisory Group set up by Women’sNet represented a range of communities including rural, training, the media, NGOs, government and the information technology community. The Advisory Group aimed to provide strategic direction to Women’sNet, taking into account the needs of the various communities. An Information Strategy Team worked on the information content and form of Women’sNet. At an information strategy workshop in December 1997, convened to create the Women’sNet website, women from Uganda, Senegal and Zimbabwe were invited to participate.

Constructing the Website

In a remarkable effort of collaboration and participative learning, the Information Strategy Team designed the structure and content of the website, learned HTML skills, and set up the site within two days. The team continued to participate in site development after this meeting through the listserver, although basic functions of running the site and the project were taken over by staff. The experience of this workshop was drawn up into a curriculum module and posted on the site (womensnet.org.za/about/curric.htm) for other women to use.

The areas that the workshop identified as important information priorities were:

--    human rights;

--    health;

--    information and communication technologies;

--    violence against women; and

--    education.

Women’sNet developed these areas and later added:

--    women and enterprise;

--    Internet links;

--    gender in Parliament;

--    job and study opportunities; and

--    news.

Briefings on the new additions to the site are sent out weekly to a listserver comprising 350 members. The site also has a bulletin board and a search engine.

Throughout the process of setting up and running Women’sNet, one of the benchmarks has been consultation, involvement and participation of women and organizations. Information partnerships are seen as totally essential to the success of Women’sNet. The Information Strategy Team members are all involved in sharing women’s information and using e-mail as part of their daily work. According to staff member Lynn Danzig, Women’sNet does not aim simply to deliver information content to women. Rather, it involves them in the process of information development.

Prevention of Violence Against Women Site

Women’sNet was launched in March 1998 to coincide with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Conference on the Prevention of Violence Against Women, held in Durban. For this event, a section of the website on the prevention of violence against women was set up. Statistics show that this resource has become the most frequently-visited section of the site. Women’sNet held a three-day workshop in July 1998 to do more work on the site. Seven women working in the sector came together to critique the site, build an information partnership with Women’sNet, and provide ideas for developing the web resource.

Participants formulated new sections for the site based on user profiles. This has resulted in a multi-level selection of information that can serve a variety of women’s needs—one of Women’sNet’s aims for empowering women.

Interactivity

Electronic interactivity and participation are important possibilities provided by e-mail and the Internet, and areas that Women’sNet has tried to use extensively. The website includes interactive features such as feedback features, opportunities to send information to the site, bulletin boards and “mail-to’s.”

Women’sNet has used listservers before and after each workshop to introduce women to each other, encourage a useful dialogue prior to the meeting, enable the flow of information, and to continue discussion after the meeting has taken place. With a common area of work and interest, the technology has facilitated women’s participation and networking. The Prevention of Violence Against Women listserver initially focused on the declaration at the SADC conference, but has been broadened for the discussion of other violence issues. This has enabled discussion among women and sharing of views and continued interaction, even after completion of the conference.

Telecentres

Bearing in mind the lack of telecommunications infrastructure in certain areas of the country—particularly rural areas and townships—Women’sNet is linking up with a telecentre project being spearheaded by the Universal Service Agency (www.usa.org.za), a statutory body that aims to facilitate access to telecommunications and information services for South African communities. Telecentres, which provide telephones, faxes, computers and the Internet, allow people who don’t have access in their own organizations or homes to use ICTs. This begins to remove the elite connotations of ICT access and makes it more accessible to communities.

Not only does the Universal Service Agency facilitate setting up of the telecentres, it also provides training in ICTs and support in management of the centres. It has a policy of training at least 50% of women participants. Women’sNet is working with this initiative to promote gender-sensitive training, employment opportunities for women, and the development of local content.

Women and ICT Policy

The experience gained by Women’sNet highlights the importance of engaging in the area of policy development. Telecommunications, like other resources, are not gender-neutral. They risk not being relevant, attainable or beneficial to women unless we ensure that the position of women is presented at the policy-making level. The seminar highlighted the need for women’s activism in this area. More visible and accessible gender information will influence policy-making, both within civil society and government, according to Ruth Ochieng and Jenny Radloff.

Challenges

Within the short time it has been running, Women’sNet has made groundbreaking achievements in process and in product. As its work proceeds the needs, plans and ideas of the initiative multiply. The project’s work constantly highlights the many challenges that need to be addressed, both by it and by people working in the area of women and ICTs in South Africa. Some of the major challenges will be highlighted below.

Access to computers and the Internet has been highlighted as a major challenge. As long as many women do not have this access due to lack of infrastructure or lack of resources, they are largely excluded from the world of electronic information and communication. It is not anticipated that Women’sNet can solve such a major developmental problem, but it is one area that needs attention. While the Universal Service Agency is trying to deal with universal access practically, it is perhaps at a public policy level that a gendered perspective on ICTs needs to be provided. Women’sNet, together with the Commission on Gender Equality, may be well-placed to contribute input on these policy concerns.

It is widely acknowledged that ICTs will not directly bring development to the poor. However if they are not used in developing countries, the countries run the risk of further marginalizing their poor. Lack of ICT policies, infrastructure and knowledge will further isolate these countries and exclude them from the global ICT-enabled community. South Africa has recognized the need to develop ICT infrastructure and to reach out to communities by providing facilities for ICT access. However a gendered approach to policy or to implementation has been lacking—we need to acknowledge that ICTs, like other resources, will touch the lives of men and women in different ways. Discrimination against women needs to be minimized and opportunities for growth and democratization emphasized.

At an immediate resource level Women’sNet is aware that it has not yet explored partnerships with the private sector, which could assist in providing computers, software and connectivity. Women’sNet has discussed establishing partnerships with businesses with a social responsibility focus to begin to provide access for women’s empowerment. An example of one such partnership is the recent provision by M-Web, a major Internet Service Provider, of an Internet café to the National Council of Provinces in Parliament.

Women’sNet has not yet been able to develop a training programme, although training has taken place in all the workshops. Reaching out to women with the possibility of information and communication has highlighted the need for even more basic computer skills to be provided for women. Women’sNet sees the provision of skills as a priority.

Women’sNet believes that favourable learning environments where women without previous technical skills can safely participate and contribute need to be created. Women’sNet has hosted Internet cafés for women to come, ask questions and gain hands-on experience. It will be a challenge to increase the scale of training offered and the range of communities that can benefit.

ICT projects that work across different media may be able to render their communications more accessible. Cross-media outreach was one of the needs put forward in the first brainstorming workshop, and one that Women’sNet plans to pursue. Radio has a broad reach, even into rural areas, and this is one way in which Women’sNet can effectively use electronic information. Radio stations do not appear to have access to information about the activities of women’s organizations. They are at times sexist and lack an understanding of gender concerns. By raising the profile of women’s activism and issues, and creating a regular flow of information and training on the use of ICTs, Women’sNet may begin to influence the content and approach of radio stations. This could increase the flow of information for women’s empowerment that is broadcast on radio.

Conclusion

It is arguable whether the Internet is male-dominated and unfriendly to women, whether women can use ICTs when their basic survival needs are not being met, and whether the Internet is a medium that can empower, inform and network women in an unprecedented way.  Without ignoring the complexities of the issue, using the Internet can give women an opportunity to overcome their disadvantages and begin to use ICTs for their own development and empowerment. This is the option chosen by Women’sNet.

One of the major successes to date of the fledgling Women’sNet project, highlighted by Rebecca Holmes, is the fact that the website was built collectively and directly in accordance with women’s needs. In particular, it was built by South African women who previously did not have the technical skills to build a website. It has successfully demystified these skills and enabled the women to use them creatively. Women’sNet has also established and nurtured information partnerships with organizations and individuals, which enables it to develop information content in a sustainable way.

Information content for women’s empowerment in South Africa needs to be taken further. We can see the benefits of using ICTs. However we can also see the risk of not participating in the global information revolution and thereby again placing women at the bottom end of the resource chain. We need processes for engaging women, and we need to reach further into disadvantaged communities. We need to enable women to use ICTs effectively in their work, and we need to learn from each other’s experiences. Training is also a crucial component of empowering women. Recognizing these many needs, we must build Women’sNet and other projects that begin to address these issues and that will assist women in achieving equality and human rights.

References

Commission on Gender Equality (1998). Annual Report of the Commission on Gender Equality, April 1997-March 1998. Johannesburg: CGE.

Media Africa (1998). Media Africa: The 1998 South African Web User Survey: Executive Summary. Available online (www.mafrica.co.za/webusers.html).

Ochieng, Ruth and Radloff, Jenny (1998). “Relevant and Accessible Electronic Information Networking in Africa” in Agenda, 38: 63-69. Durban: Agenda.

Smith, Gail (1998). “Women Working on the Internet: New Frontiers for Exclusion?” in Agenda, 38: 70-77. Durban: Agenda.

Women’sNet (1997). Women’sNet Brainstorming Workshop Report. Available online (womensnet.org.za/about/workshop.htm).

Women’sNet (1997). Building a Web Site Together—How the Women’sNet Site was Born: Curriculum for Team Web Site Building Workshop, based on the Women’sNet Information Strategy Team Workshop, 11-14 December 1997. Available online (womensnet.org.za/about/curric.htm).

Interviews

Interview with Gail Smith, Women’sNet Project Co-ordinator, 17 August 1998.

Interview with Lynn Danzig, Women’sNet Information Manager, 17 August 1998.

Interview with Rebecca Holmes, Consultant to Women’sNet, 17 August 1998.

Voices from Africa no. 9