ROLE OF ICT IN ACHIEVING COMPLETE GENDER EQUALITY IN INDIA

International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 3, Issue 3 (May-June 2015), PP. 184-189
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ROLE OF ICT IN ACHIEVING COMPLETE
GENDER EQUALITY IN INDIA
Garima Mishra1 & Dr U. V. Kiran2
Research Scholar1
& Assistant Professor2
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, School for Home Sciences.
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedker University, Lucknow.
Mobile no- 9532542558
mishragarima201289@gmail.com
ABSTRACT- The 21st
century has brought with itself a new
revolution in the global realm – the information society, which
has changed the global macroeconomic landscape. The
importance of technology cannot be denied as it has changed the
way we live, the way we work, the way we make decisions and the
way we correspond with each other. Advancements in
Information Communication Technologies not only have the
capability to improve the technological arena, but they also have
the potential to bring about social and economic improvements.
Across the globe, countries have recognized Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) as an effective tool in
catalyzing the economic activity in efficient governance, and in
developing human resources. The role of ICT’s to promote
gender equality and parity in education can be achieved by
targeting their efforts not only towards education itself, but also
towards society’s cultural and institutional framework. For
example, in many countries, parents do not expect their
daughters to have careers outside the home. Consequently, girl-
children are forced to leave school after completing only a basic
or elementary education. In addition, if the benefits of schooling
for boys far outweigh those for girls, economically disadvantaged
parents will typically choose to send only the boys to school. The
differences in the health, education and standards of behavior
between the men and women of India, all contribute to the
impairment of women’s ability to improve their economic
situation. The continued perception that women are not of value
hinders women’s ability to fully participate in the economy.
Majority of women in India are doing tasks that are not
recognized by Indian society as meaningful and work much
longer hours than men, but much of their work is nurturing, and
therefore not recognized as important. Even when women are
contributing in family income, culturally their work is thought of
as connected to their position as nurturer and therefore is not
recognized as productive. The inequalities that exist among
region, social class and gender prevent the growth of the Indian
economy from improving the lives of many Indian people.
Nowhere is inequality more evident than in the lives of Indian
women, and likewise, there is no sector more affected by the lack
of improvement in social issues. Hence, the use of ICTs to
improve gender equality in education and employment may
initiate a continuous cycle of positive reinforcing feedback effects
between gender equality in employment and economic
development, leading to further improvements in both.
Key words: economic development, e-commerce, gender
equality, ICT
I. INTRODUCTION
A century and more after the industrial revolution, we are
in the throes of another major shift in human civilization – the
information revolution that has given birth to the “information
society”.
The “information society” is among the most discussed
phenomena in recent times. New information and
communication technologies (ICTs), especially the Internet,
have been seen as ushering in a new age. It is also true that the
information age is not all rosy – the benefits of this new age
have not touched all of humanity, and all its outcomes are not
necessarily positive (Gurumurthy, 2004).
It has become widely understood that promoting gender
equality is an essential component of an effective economic
and human development strategy. “There is now a shared
understanding within the development community that
development policies and actions that fail to take gender
inequality into account and fail to address disparities between
males and females will have limited effectiveness and serious
cost implications (World Bank 2003). Gender equality refers
to the view that men and women should receive equal
treatment and should not be discriminated against based
on gender unless there is a sound biological reason for
different treatment (Universal Declaration of Human
Rights).
Gender equality is, first and foremost, a human right.
Women are entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from
want and from fear. Empowering women is also an
indispensable tool for advancing development and reducing
poverty. Empowered women contribute to the health and
productivity of whole families and communities and to
improved prospects for the next generation. The importance of
gender equality is underscored by its inclusion as one of the
eight Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality is
acknowledged as being a key to achieving the other seven
goals. Information and communication technologies in recent
years have been recognized as an effective tool for promoting
economic growth and sustainable development (UNPF, 2015).
Women need encouragement and support from the family
members, government, society, male counterparts etc., with
the right assistance from varied groups; they can join the main
stream of national economy and thereby contribute to the
economic development (Mishra et al., 2014).
The important characteristics of ICTs that have enabled it
to be an effective tool for economic development also make
them an effective mean through which gender equality can be
improved and promoted. There are several ways in which an
established ICT infrastructure or access to ICTs can make
people aware about gender equality. The concept of e-
commerce emerged as trading in products or services using
computer networks, such as the Internet. Electronic commerce
draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic
funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet
marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and

185 | P a g e
automated data collection systems. Modern electronic
commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one
part of the transaction's life cycle, although it may also use
other technologies such as e-mail (Wikipedia, 2014). Thus,
ICT and e-commerce offer substantial possibilities to improve
the lives of women and their families in developing countries.
Gender equality aims to enhance women’s participation in the
digital economy and can increase national capacity and
achieve greater economic independence and development.
ICTs allow an increased flow of information and
knowledge, increased availability and use of ICTs allow
increased exposure to the customs, norms and practices of
other cultures and societies. This in turn tends to increase
awareness of issues surrounding gender inequality. As such,
ICTs can be an invaluable tool in positively changing people’s
attitude, including women themselves, towards women by
disseminating educational programs on gender equity. In
addition, increased pressure from an informed constituency
that are sensitive to gender inequality issues can also induce
policymakers to include gender as an important component of
their social and economic policies (Chen, 2004).
ICTs are playing a very crucial role in promoting the
gender equality across the globe. The role of new information
and communication technologies (ICT) and e-commerce in
driving the global economy is widely recognized, as ICTs and
the Internet reach many people and have a wide geographical
coverage and are efficient in terms of time and cost. ICTs
facilitate access to markets, commercial information, new
processing technologies and knowledge. In the developing
world, the use of ICT and e-commerce seems to be
particularly attractive to women owning small enterprises.
These female entrepreneurs are now able to use ICT to
identify new business opportunities or communicate with
potential clients (Teltscher, 2002).
II. FORMS OF GENDER INEQUALITY
Gender inequality refers to health, education, economic
and political inequalities between men and women in India.
Gender inequalities, and its social causes, impact India's sex
ratio, women's health over their lifetime, their educational
attainment, and economic conditions. Gender inequality in
India is a multifaceted issue that concerns men and women
alike. Some argue that some gender equality measures, place
men at a disadvantage. However, when India’s population is
examined as a whole, women are at a disadvantage in several
important ways. (Wikipedia, 2014)
A. Economic Inequalities
 Labor participation and wages: Over 50% of Indian
labor is employed in agriculture and wage inequality is
prevalent between men and women in our country, which
is also referred to as “gender gap in earnings. The largest
wage gap was in manual ploughing operations in 2009,
where men were paid 103 per day, while women were
paid Rs. 55, a wage gap ratio of 1.87. For sowing, the
wage gap ratio reduced to 1.38 and for weeding 1.18. For
other agriculture operations such as winnowing, threshing
and transplanting, the male to female wage ratio varied
from 1.16 to 1.28. For sweeping, the 2009 wages were
statistically same for men and women in all states of India
(Wikipedia, 2014).
 Access to credit: Government has made many laws
that are supportive of lending to women
and microcredit programs targeted to women are
prolific, women often get difficulty in getting loan
due to low level of property ownership.
B. Education inequalities
 Schooling: In the present scenario, there are very few
places where women are denied a formal right to
education. However, as is already established, formal
equality is inadequate to ensure and guarantee equality of
rights between men and women. Even when the state
provides girls with access to education, gender
discrimination can be reinforced by practices such as a
curriculum which is inconsistent with the principles of
gender equality, by arrangements which limit the benefits
girls can obtain from the educational opportunities offered,
and by unsafe or unfriendly environment which discourage
girls‟ participation. True equality in education requires the
development of specific and effective guarantee to ensure
that female students are provided with access to the same
curricula and other educational and scholarship
opportunities as male students (Ranganath et al. 2011).
 Literacy: In India, literacy rate of female has always been
lower than male literacy rate. If we look at the census
2011, we find the literacy rate of females is 65.46% as
compared to males (82.14%). Compared to boys, far fewer
girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop
out. Although this gap has been reduced significantly,
problems still remain in the quality of education for girls
where boys in the same family will be sent to higher
quality private schools and girls sent to the government
schools in the village (Wikipedia, 2014).
C. Occupational inequalities:
There are few sectors where women are being denied of
getting equal opportunity. In the military services, women are
being neglected in some aspects. In the armed forces
permanent commission could not be granted to female officers
since they have neither been trained for command nor have
they been given the responsibility so far. As far as property
rights of women are concerned, women have equal rights
under the law to own property and receive equal inheritance
rights, but in practice, women are at a disadvantage.
D. Health and survival inequalities:
On health and survival measures, International standards
consider the birth sex ratio implied sex-selective abortion, and
gender inequality between life expectancy of women and
relative number of years that women live compared to men in
good health by taking into account the years lost to violence,
disease, malnutrition or other relevant factors. On the other
hand, mental health has been reported as an important factor
influencing an individual behavior. Women who work outside
the home are required to make many socio-familial
adjustments that may contribute more stress and anxiety. The
problem of stress in women, particularly working women, is

186 | P a g e
an important aspect due to the social and emotional changes
(Mishra et al., 2014).
E. Political inequalities:
This measure of gender inequality considers the gap
between men and women in political decision making at the
highest levels. India passed 73rd
and 74th
Constitutional
Amendments in 1993, which provides for 33 per cent quota
for women's representation in the local self-government
institutions, but practically the percentage of women
encouraged to occupy prominent places is very meager and
very often women in political positions are over-ruled by men
(husband or father) in decision making.
Causes of Gender Inequality
The causes of gender inequality is quite complex but there are
many cultural factors which are responsible for gender
inequality. Some of them are listed below:
 Patriarchal society
 Son preference
 Discrimination against girls
 Dowry
 Marriage laws
 Lack of awareness
 Low educational Status
 Poverty
 Insufficient advancement facilities
(Source: Wikipedia,2014)
III. GLOBAL RANKING ON VARIOUS GENDER
INEQUALITY INDICES
Indicator India’s Global
Rank (year)
Source
GII: 132/148
(2012)
United Nations
Development
Program (UNDP)
GGI: 101/136
(2013)
World Economic
Forum (WEF)
SIGI 56/86
(2012)
Organization for
Economic Co-
operation And
Development(OECD)
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality_in_India
Women’s Access to ICTs
ICT as a tool for the promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of women, a “gender divide” has also been
identified, reflected in the lower numbers of women accessing
and using ICT compared with men. Unless this gender divide
is specifically addressed, there is a risk that ICT may
exacerbate existing inequalities between women and men and
create new forms of inequality (Ramilo et al. 2005).
“Technology is an attitude of mind, not an assemblage of
artefacts. … For this reason, it is difficult for us to
understand the problems of technology transfer in the
Third World” (Stamp 1989:1.)
“Information technology has become a potent force in
transforming social and economic and political life
globally” (Hafkin and Taggart, 2002).
IV. ICT AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
ICT has made a tremendous impact in imparting
knowledge on modern technology and its uses. NGOs,
SHGs working in the field, governmental agencies and other
private agencies have also extended their help to promote
ICT among the women. ICT empower women in various
areas like social, educational, psychological, political,
technological and economical and well as few degree of
disempowerment due to some internal and external reasons
(Beena et al.2012).
Empowerment of women in the context of knowledge
societies is understood as building the ability and skills of
women to gain insight into actions and issues in the external
environment, which influence them. If the women will be
empowered, it will build their capacity to get involved and
voice their concerns in these external processes, make
informed decisions, participate in the economic and political
processes, and bring about an overall improvement in their
quality of life (Nath, 2001).
Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social process that
helps people gain control over their own lives. Women
empowerment generally refers to the process by which women
enhances their capacity to take control over decisions that
shape their lives, including in relation to access to resources,
participation in decision making and control over distribution
of benefits. Women's empowerment has five components:
women's sense of self-worth; their right to have and to
determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities
and resources; their right to have the power to control their
own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability
to influence the direction of social change to create a more just
social and economic order, nationally and internationally
(UNPOPIN, 2010, Morshedi et al., 2012).
Fig.1 Source: Nath V. (2001). Empowerment and
Governance through ICT: Women’s Perspective.
Information Technology in developing country. Vol. 11.
No. 1. London School of Economics.
V. GENDER, ICT AND DEVELOPMENT
The role of new information and communication
technologies (ICT) and e-commerce in driving the global

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economy is widely recognized: ICT and the Internet reach
many people, have a wide geographical coverage and are
efficient in terms of time and cost. They facilitate access to
markets, commercial information, new processing
technologies and knowledge. In the developing world, the use
of ICT and e-commerce seems to be particularly attractive to
women owning small enterprises. These female entrepreneurs
are now able to use ICT to identify new business opportunities
or communicate with potential clients. ICT and e-commerce
offer substantial possibilities to improve the lives of women
and their families in developing countries. Gender equality is
having the objective to enhance the women’s participation in
the digital economy and thus increase national capacity and
achieve greater economic development and growth
(Ranganath et al.2011).
ICT, Gender Equality and Economic Development
Fig. 2 Gender Equality and Economic Development: The
Role for ICTs (H. C. Chen,2004)
VI. IMPROVING GENDER EQUALITY WITH ICT
The characteristics of ICTs and its overall benefits for
economic development makes it a key component through
which gender equality can be improved. Looking more
specifically, ICTs can influence the public opinions in a
positive way about gender equality. Especially in a country
like India, this can be a good strategy by inducing
policymakers to include gender as an important component to
their social and economic policies. ICT can be a powerful tool
for gender equality as it encourages girls and women to pursue
technical career and make them aware about entrepreneurship
education. Thus women can raise their economical, social and
education status.
Statistically looking into the World Bank, the number of
Internet users is accounted to grow at a rate of 50% per annum
with teledensity reaching up to 3.8% of the population by
2008. The IT and ITES sector is projected to grow 18% in the
next five years to become an industry of Rs 4.58 Lakh Crores
by 2011, according to an IDC release . Overall there is
significant growth and strength in the IT sector of India. But
the problem is spreading this growth of ICTs across women
also. The main problem is the digital divide that exists in
India. According to the 2004 report by the Cisco Learning
Institute for women, only 23% of Indian women are Internet
users. This gender digital divide in India is characterized by
low-level access of technologies. Some of the factors
restricting access to ICT infrastructure are poverty, lack of
computer literacy and language barriers in these areas
(Redkar et al. 1994).
Majority of the Indian women are still tradition bound and
are in a disadvantageous position. Inequality in women's
access to ICT and participation in all communications
systems, especially the media, and their insufficient
mobilization to promote women's contribution to society. The
lack of gender sensitivity in the media is evidenced by the
failure to eliminate the gender-based stereotyping that can be
found in public and private local, national and international
media organizations. The continued projection of negative and
degrading images of women in media communication
electronic, print, visual and audio - must be changed. Print and
electronic media in most countries do not provide a balanced
picture of women's diverse lives and contributions to society
in a changing world. (VAPS, GOI)
In 1990s and 2000s, Information Technology sector has
become the largest private sector employing women in India.
Due to its employee-friendly/gender neutral human resource
policies with emphasis on equality of opportunity and
meritocracy, policy like flexi-time and place, Tele-working,
internet have attracted many a women to get into technical and
managerial positions provided good avenues of employability
of women candidates. Consequently, enhanced female
participation in public domain has emancipated them from
male constriction and raised them to equality claims
(Bhattacharyya et al. 2013).
ICTs have immense potential and scope to create new
employment opportunities for rural women and make them
economically empowered. While ICTs can play an important
role in empowering rural women, women’s access and use of
ICTs and empowerment clearly depends on the vision and
operational agenda of the organization applying the ICTs
(Sulaiman et al. 2011).
Gender dimensions of ICT—in terms of access and use,
capacity-building opportunities, employment and potential for
empowerment: are explicitly identified and addressed; ICT
can be a powerful catalyst for political and social
empowerment of women, and the promotion of gender
equality (Ramilo et.al. 2005).
VII. POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR GENDER
EQUALITY THROUGH ICT
To promote gender equality and overcome the obstacles in the
usages of ICT by women, certain strategies should be
considered:
 Government’s Effort: Government should focus on
ICT infrastructure development and ensure a deep
diffusion quality of ICT facilities in the society,
especially in educational institutions. ICTs are
powerful tool as it bridges the gap of Gender Digital
Divide. Appropriate policy frameworks to be
established at the national, state and district level to
address the issue of gender equality and gender
mainstreaming along with proper research work on
the issues of ICT and gender empowerment.
 Increasing Educational Opportunities for
Females: ICTs are able to provide innovative ways

188 | P a g e
for women to obtain and update their skills so as to
enable them to participate fully and on a more equal
bias in the economy. Female education is especially
important in societies where gender biases that
dictate solely domestic roles for women. Lack of
schooling in such cases tends to perpetuate gender
disparities. ( H. C. Chen, 2004)
 Ensuring a gender perspective in ICT-based
projects: In the country like India, substantial
disparities in access, use and regulation of ICTs exist
across societies and regions. So ensuring an ICT
based project would be an effective tool for
addressing these disparities with a separate gender
perspective and not as a single approach for both men
and women together.
 Distance Learning Program: There are many girls
and women who face barriers to leave home for
education. In such conditions distance learning
programs are very helpful and the content of the
syllabus should address the gender issues faced by
women.
 Ensuring adequate and sustainable technology
transfer: It is important that adequate transfer of
know how should accompany technology transfer.
Moreover, for sufficient demand generation for a
sustainable working model, active participation is
required from both men and women.
 Print and Electronic media: Print and Electronic
media have highest intensity of diffusion in India,
should initiate mass awareness programs regarding
the female education, gender equality and gender
empowerment. A more educated society would be
more liberal towards female education and gender
equality.
 Designing technologies appropriate to women’s
needs: For women to adopt ICTs in the developing
counties, the technology should be made suitable to
the given social and cultural contexts of the society.
It is very important to understand women’s
experiences with ICT and the kind of technology
women want and how they want to use it.
 Ensuring gender-sensitive ICTs policy and
regulation: Adequate and appropriate policies need
to be formulated at the national level for overcoming
the persistent barriers to women’s access to and use
of ICTs as well as making sure that ICTs benefit
women equally as men.
 Researches on gender equality and ICT:
Researches on ICT and gender equality issue at
regional, national and global levels and
documentation of good practices also contributes to
deepening the understanding of practitioners and
policy makers about the interplay of these
technologies with gender equality and the
empowerment of women.
 E-Learning in and for improving e-Government:
ICT-enabled education has great potential for
increasing educational opportunities for women at all
levels, in both formal and non-formal educational
environments. It can provide flexible access
arrangements and study times and encourage
interaction and networking with peers and teachers. It
can also improve the outreach towards women in
rural areas and in the workplace while contributing to
lifelong learning. (UN, Economic &Social Council
2010)
VIII. CONCLUSION
Expectations are very high when it comes to the role of ICTs
for achieving complete gender equality. however, on a
cautious note, it needs to be realized that ICT by itself cannot
be an answer and elixir to all the problems related to gender
inequality but it does bring new information resources and can
open new communication channel for the communities where
gender gap exist. Introduction of ICTs in these areas will open
new avenues for bridging the gender gap and promoting
gender equality. Thus ICTs can offer substantial possibilities
to improve the lives of women and their families in
developing countries. Gender equality aims to enhance
women’s participation in the digital economy and can increase
national capacity and achieve greater economic independence
and development.
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