Cinderella or Cyberella?  Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society

 

Edited by Nancy J. Hafkin and Sophia Huyer

 

 

 

Whether you are novice in the
field trying to build a foundation for understanding the issues or a
well-informed policy or program practitioner, Cinderella or Cyberella? serves as both a
resource for comprehensive understanding and a strategic guide for taking
the necessary steps to ensure girls and women fully participate in and
benefit from Information and Communication Technologies.

Claudia J. Morrell, Executive Director,

The Center for Women and Information Technology University of Maryland Baltimore County

 

 

Hafkin and Huyer have taken their extensive experience in the field of gender and technology to compile an anthology which not only makes the argument but shows the way for engendering technology.

 

Anil Srivastava, CEO, AcrossWorld Communications, Inc.

 

 

 

Cinderella or Cyberella? shatters the fairy tale that information and communication technologies are gender-neutral. It exposes the manifestation of gender inequalities in the access, use and control of these technologies and effectively demonstrates how this trend can be reversed, resulting in far reaching empowerment of both women and men.

Chat Garcia Ramilo, Coordinator,

International Network of the Association for Progressive Communications

 

 

 

Cinderella or Cyberella: what is the future for women in the knowledge society? Cyberella is fluent in the uses of technology, comfortable using and designing computer programs, and working in virtual spaces.  Cinderella works in the basement of the knowledge society with little opportunity to reap its benefits. Promoting women’s empowerment through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is one of the critical development challenges of the 21st century.

 

Nancy J. Hafkin and Sophia Huyer, acknowledged as leading scholars on gender and information technology, have assembled a stellar group of authors for this collection. Each chapter depicts the ways ICTs provide opportunities for women to improve their incomes, gain awareness of their rights, and improve their own and their families’ well-being.  Illustrative case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America, show the global possibilities for women’s empowerment through technology.

 

Contents

1: Understanding Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the Knowledge Society

2: Women, Gender and ICT Statistics and Indicators

3: Engendering ICT Policy and Regulation: Prioritizing Universal Access for Women’s Empowerment

4: Cyberella in the Classroom? Gender, Education and Technology

5: "We Have Womb": Engendering ICTs in Education, The Schoolnet Africa Experience

6: Improved Livelihoods and Empowerment for Poor Women through IT Sector Intervention

7: Women in Latin America Appropriating ICTs for Social Change

8: Empowerment of Women through ICT-enabled Networks: Towards the optimum ICT-impact Model

 

 

Nancy J. Hafkin has worked on issues of gender and information technology and development for over thirty years. She was formerly the coordinator of the African Information Society Initiative at the United Nations and is now the director of Knowledge Working.

 

Sophia Huyer is Executive Director of Women in Global Science and Technology and Senior Research Advisor with the Gender Advisory Board of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development. She is a Fellow of the World Technology Network.

 

Other contributors: Sonia N. Jorge, Shafika Isaacs, Shoba Arun, Richard Heeks, Sharon Morgan, Maria Garrido, Raul Roman, and Vikas Nath.

 

 

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Cinderella or Cyberella? Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society, published by Kumarian Press, June 2006,