Women Surfing the Net: Space for Growth or Simply Left Out?

There's an air of optimism about the role that IT and the Internet can play. It could help the rural-dweller, the non-affluent even the commonman. But what about the often neglected woman-on-the-street? How do ICTs (information and communication technologies) help or hinder the average woman? This issue is not tackled often, specially in an Asian context. In the Philippines, however, the Quezon City-based Women's Networking Support Programme is doing some interesting work. And raising interesting questions while doing so.

Meet Concepcion 'Chat' Garcia Ramilo. Why 'Chat'? Because Filipinos (and Filipinas) usually have such short names! Chat has been specialising in gender, ICTs and women's electronic networking for the last five years. She has also coordinated the Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC), a regional Internet-based women's information service and network, since 1998. In addition, she works as the Project Manager for the Association for Progressive Communications' Women's Networking Support Programme. In addition, she coordinates a new organisation that provides ICT-related services for Filipino women, called 'womenshub'. Chat says this is a field in which she is not 'formally trained'. Says she:” And I think it's a good story to tell, because hopefully it encourages a lot of other women to take it up. My background is psychology, and working with women's organisation. Apart from this, I'm also involved in working with women in migration." Her prayer is that her five-year-old boy will be a gender-sensitive man when he grows up....

Q: Chat, tell us about how you first got involved...

It started by helping women to use Information Technologies for empowerment. I myself got involved by using the technology myself in the work that I do. Incidentally, the first time I used email was at the World Conference on Women (at Beijing, in the mid-nineties). The first email I sent was from this email centre set up by women themselves, which is the Women's Programme of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). They set it up to make sure that what was happening in Beijing was shared globally. So that's how I got into it, used email much more, and realised the power that these technologies can give in enhancing one's work.

Q: Okay, now how exactly are you using the technology?

Take the case of one network which we are involved in. It is called the Asian Women's Resource Exchange, and was set up about four years ago. We call it an Internet-based women's network, because we do a lot of our work using the technology. We have 11 members from about 9 countries, and we have several activities. One is a training programme, called the Women's Electronic Network Training (WENT). We train women in empowering them to use technology, in a way that is appropriate to what they're doing. We've trained about 90 women in the last three years. We have one training per year. We get together the women in one space, at a university in (South) Korea. And we actually have training in different skills-web information, database, using ITCs for campaigning, for advocacy, for policy work. But the more important idea around it is to gather women together, and also share their experiences. And also to talk about technology in a secure and safe place. That's because usually women find it hard (to otherwise do so). They tell us that, from experience in their work places, technology is not something they're very comfortable with. So, it's a way of mentoring among women. So that all their fears can surface and be addressed.

Q: Increasingly, it seems that the technologies available on the Net are not as gender-neutral as they once seemed. If you would agree with me-and I see you nodding-why would you say it's so?

(Laughs.) I think, as you say, it's very historical. It's really about women's position, and the subordination of women in a lot of ways. Women have been marginalised from technology for a long time. Made invisible in terms of technology. Feminists looking at how women have been marginalised from technology (say) it's really got to do with the way in which technology is defined. Technology is defined in very male, masculine terms. So technology has to do with hard science. Technology has to do with machines.

And it's usually a male-domain. Technology, for instance, is not seen as weaving. You know, weaving is a very complicated process. And women are involved in it. But it's not considered technology, because it's not considered hard-science. So, I think it has to do with defining what technology is. The other thing is also the invisibility of the women's role in technology. For example there's been research that says that women have been the first operators of computers. Actually there are researchers that say that women were the ones who invented the first computers! All this is not common knowledge.

In education generally, women then do not go in for Science and Technology in general. This is not only in Information Technology. Perhaps in IT there are more women (than in general Science), because this has to do with an area where women are more traditionally seen. Like in terms of being content providers, holders of knowledge, etc. Which is a positive thing; but at the same time, it leaves them in an area which only has to do with content. And not in relation to, let's say, being systems administrators. Or looking at machines, taking them apart, and putting them together again. That's I think where the differences are....

Q: So, would you feel that access in itself-and training-would help women get an entry point? Or is something more required in the whole field of the IT and the Internet?

Oh definitely. I think access is the first step. Because in a lot of experiences of women, it's the first thing. Access is the one that opens up, when women touch the computer and they're on the Internet, it opens up a lot of possibilities for them. We do believe it's your experience, your personal experience, with the technology that addresses fears. Then they see it as something which is not complicated; as something they can handle. The other bit about training, it's very important. It empowers them. Specially at a time, when there's a lot of hype over the use of IT. There are so many products out there. Commercial products. It's very corporate-driven, so it's really a question of being informed and empowered enough. So as to make choices that will be appropriate to your conditions. There are a lot of choices there, I think, that a lot of women are not really aware of.

Q: Which are the experiences of women using the Net or IT, from different parts of the globe, which have inspired your group?

Many experiences! In Africa, for example, women are using technologies in poor villages, setting up information networks about health. Looking at the health problems of women. There's one experience of two women who actually set up the first non-commercial ISP in Africa. In our region, there's one woman a trainee, who's 51. She was our oldest trainee this year. She is the co-ordinator of a voluntary group called Mothers For Mothers. She's Malaysian. And she's a single mum. What inspired her in using the technology, is that she's a local newspaper columnist. She got a lot of letters from local women. From there, they were able to set up a network, to help each other as single parents. And she set up a network, and she uses IT. She came to the training because she wants to learn more to expand the work that she's doing. A lot of it is individual experiences of women, in using the technology and making it their own. I think it's the practice that really makes a difference. There's a lot of software, applications and hardware available. It's the way you shape the technology that matters, and you use it in a way that will empower individuals, organisations and communities. In the end, I think it's that that matters.

Q: When you train your participants, what do you'll focus on, and how do they respond to it?

We undertake a sort of advocacy ourselves. We talk about information technologies. We talk about netizenship. We talk about ICTs for social change and gender equality. That's the first thing. Then, women then have a choice of three different tracks, as we call them. One is how do you manage, develop and sustain web-information services. That has to do with a lot of things. It's not teaching basic HTML. But it is actually looking at how do you plan, and use it. How do you empower yourself, because if you talk to a web-designer as you can't really afford to have a web-manager, then you're able to tell this person that 'This is exactly what I want'. And if he tells you-usually it's a man (laughs) -- 'Oh, no no. We have to have animated graphics and blinking lights.' Then you can turn round and say you don't need that because the women we work with have very limited bandwidth.

That's the first thing. The other area is using IT for your advocacy, for campaigning and for policy work. It's an area we are developing. Specially policy work. Because we feel we need to be able to be part of decision-making. There's a lot of policy-making happening around ICTs now. Policy issues we feel we need to be part of that as well, so that we can then influence the direction ICTs are taking. In relation to access, in relation to what technologies should be developed, etc.

And the last bit there is database. Database because there are a lot of very small women's data and information centres that have information that they've collected over years. For instance, women's groups like Jagori and Akshara from India, came to our training. They're not fully computerised, but they have a lot of information. And they found it very useful. Immediately after the training they set up databases. Jagori now has theirs and Akshara is starting their database.

Q: Very few countries in Asia seem to be focussing on the issue of women and ICTs. Would I be right in believing this?

Yeah. I think it's not seen as an area (of concern) yet, where we need to do a lot of work. Specially policy work. I think it's because women are in a lot of different areas. But in the last five years, that also has to do with Beijing, the momentum has started since the world conference. From there, there have been a lot of women's organisations who use e-mail, though not in a very planned way. We recently had done a research in AWORK of the use of ICTs in 20 different countries of the Asia-Pacific. The results are actually telling. On the one hand, there has been a lot of growth. It's quite common now. E-mail is a sort of a standard. Except for organisations like in the Pacific, where you don't have enough access. But in the way that it's still being used is mostly in terms of communication-regular correspondence. It's not being yet widely used for campaigning, for advocacy, and definitely not yet that common for websites. Though it is growing. And the reason we get so much interest in the training -- this year we had over 90 applications and we had only 30 places -- is because there is a need there. There's a demand for training.

Q: Lastly, could you tell us something about APC's women's programme?

It's a global network of women. We're individuals, representatives of organisations. It's a combined network, and also of staff of APC. APC is a communications organisation that is now 10 years old. It has members in different countries, and usually the members are non-profit ISP nodes. It has staff, individual women as well as representatives of organisation. It is really involved in empowering women in using and designing ways of empowering ways for the use of technology. We are in about 26 countries across the world.