Invisible but ubiquitous: leveraging ICTs for development in gendered systems of exclusion - Nigeria and Cameroon

Patience Akpan-Obong

Chapter 3 in Handbook of Gender and Technology, 2023, pp 56-76 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Policies in many African countries often frame the role of women in the development process as an afterthought. This approach has the unintended consequences of casting women as objects of development. Development and feminist scholars seek to address this by focusing on institutional obstacles to women’s participation. This qualitative research moves beyond issues of obstacles to examine women’s transformative utilization of technologies despite the challenges. The focus on achievements and capabilities highlights women’s resilience in contexts of resource scarcity, invisibility and exclusion. Drawing from secondary research and personal interviews with women in Nigeria and Cameroon, the chapter traces the evolution of women’s interactions with technologies from the nascent stage as users of basic ICTs to the forefront as ICT entrepreneurs and developers. It showcases innovative practices by women in gendered systems of exclusion. The purpose is to inform research that frames African women as agents of development even as it acknowledges existing challenges.

Keywords: Business and Management; Innovations and Technology; Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781800377929/9781800377929.00009.xml (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

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:elg:eechap:20299_3

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().