Comprehending ICT for gender empowerment in an aging context: digitalization of marginalized female elderly in the Global South during COVID-19

Xin Pei, Zhen Troy Chen and Lina Zhang

Information Technology for Development, 2024, vol. 30, issue 2, 291-307

Abstract: Focusing on the low-income elderly women in the Global South, our study situates the discussion on ICT for gender empowerment in an aging context. We aim to explore the role of aging as a biological and socio-cultural factor affecting digital adoption and usage by women in the lower rungs of their societies in developing countries. Grounded in an intersectionality approach, this study maps the dynamic and complicated landscape of their digital practices that are negotiated at the intersection of gender, aging, socioeconomic status, and local digital management policies. Through in-depth interviewing and digital ethnography, we particularly give avoice to the low-income elderly women in China, illuminating their constraining, yet empowering digitalization process during COVID-19. The findings reveal a distinctive understanding of ICT for gender empowerment from aging women’s perspective, shifting away from the personal advancement that typically dominates the agenda of their younger counterparts.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02681102.2023.2300669 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:titdxx:v:30:y:2024:i:2:p:291-307

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/titd20

DOI: 10.1080/02681102.2023.2300669

Access Statistics for this article

Information Technology for Development is currently edited by Sajda Qureshi

More articles in Information Technology for Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().