Social Context in Development Communication: Reflecting on Gender and Information and Communication Technologies for Development in Ghana

This essay, an example of work that builds on Dr. Ascroft’s lessons, reports collaborative research on information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) in Ghana. We highlight two parallel dialogues—on ICT and on gender—that have been advanced globally. New ICTs are prone to the same biases as the older ICTs. Further, the dialogue on ICTs may use the rhetoric of inclusivity; but in practice, women and girls remain at the margins of decision-making and implementation. This research addresses the promise of new ICTs and the need to account for gender roles. We summarize the major events that helped spark global and regional attention to ICT4D, as well as Ghana’s initiatives in relation to these events. We include critiques and initiatives resistant to facets of ICT4D, emphasizing gender critiques.

[1]  郭婷,et al.  Orientalism: An Overview , 2013 .

[2]  D. Lerner.  The Passing of Traditional Society , 1958 .

[3]  E. Boserup,et al.  Woman's Role in Economic Development. , 1972 .

[4]  G. Sen,et al.  Development, Crises and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives , 1987 .

[5]  C. Mohanty,et al.  FEMINISM WITHOUT BORDERS , 2011 .

[6]  P. Stamp.  Technology, gender, and power in Africa , 1989 .

[7]  H. Steeves,et al.  Communication for development in the Third World: theory and practice from 1950s to 1990s. , 1991 .

[8]  M. Castells,et al.  Information Technology, Globalization and Social Development , 1999 .

[9]  F. Babb.  After Revolution: Mapping Gender and Cultural Politics in Neoliberal Nicaragua , 2001 .

[10]  R. Shome,et al.  Postcolonial approaches to communication: Charting the terrain, engaging the intersections , 2002 .

[11]  H. Klein.  Understanding WSIS: An Institutional Analysis of the UN World Summit on the Information Society , 2003 .

[12]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[13]  A. Lind.  Feminist post-development thought: "women in development" and the gendered paradoxes of survival in Bolivia. , 2003 .

[14]  Amin Alhassan.  Development Communication Policy and Economic Fundamentalism in Ghana , 2004 .

[15]  D. Slater,et al.  Embeddedness and escape: Internet and mobile use as poverty reduction strategies in Ghana. Information Society Research Group Working Paper 4 , 2005 .

[16]  S. Rosser.  Through the Lenses of Feminist Theory: Focus on Women and Information Technology , 2005 .

[17]  S. Harding.  Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues , 2006 .

[18]  P. Bond.  Global Governance Campaigning and mdgs: from top-down to bottom-up anti-poverty work , 2006 .

[19]  Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong,et al.  Problems of policy formulation and implementation: The case of ICT use in rural women’s empowerment in Ghana , 2007 .

[20]  J. Burrell.  Problematic empowerment: West african internet scams as strategic misrepresentation , 2008 .

[21]  J. Burrell.  Could connectivity replace mobility?: An analysis of Internet café use patterns in Accra, Ghana , 2009 .

[22]  H. Steeves,et al.  Feminism in a Post‐Development Age , 2009 .

[23]  Melissa Tully,et al.  Crafting Lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the World of Online Friendship , 2009 .

[24]  Jeffrey James,et al.  ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development , 2010, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[25]  J. Kwami,et al.  Toward a ‘macro-micro’ analysis of gender, power and ICTs , 2011 .

[26]  F. K. Sarfo,et al.  Technology and gender equity: Rural and urban students' attitudes towards information and communication technology , 2011 .

[27]  A. Gillwald,et al.  Lifting the Veil on ICT Gender Indicators in Africa , 2012 .

[28]  R. Gajjala.  Digital Media, Race, Gender, Affect, and Labor , 2014 .

[29]  E. Aryeetey,et al.  Understanding Ghana.s growth success story and job creation challenges , 2016 .

[30]  J. Schradie.  The Gendered Digital Production Gap: Inequalities of Affluence , 2015 .

[31]  T. Robinson,et al.  Sustainable Development Goals , 2016 .

[32]  SCI facts and figures 2016. , 2016, The journal of spinal cord medicine.

[33]  T. Ojo.  Global agenda and ICT4D in Africa , 2016 .

[34]  J. Kwami.  Development From the Margins? Mobile Technologies, Transnational Mobilities, and Livelihood Practices Among Ghanaian Women Traders , 2016 .

[35]  J. Kwami,et al.  Interrogating Gender Divides in Technology for Education and Development: the Case of the One Laptop per Child Project in Ghana , 2017 .

[36]  Jane Briant Carant.  Unheard voices: a critical discourse analysis of the Millennium Development Goals’ evolution into the Sustainable Development Goals , 2017 .

[37]  S. Jahan.  Human Development Report 2016 - Human Development for Everyone , 2017 .

[38]  Jane Briant Carant,et al.  Unheard voices: a critical discourse analysis of the Millennium Development Goals’ evolution into the Sustainable Development Goals , 2017 .