Africa might be a society domestically run by women, but its patriarchal roots are systemic and facilitate a culture of female regression. The technology sector being no different.
Case Study of Maputo and Beira:
There is a large digital gender divide Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. In fact, 51% of young men in Maputo frequently use a computer, compared to only 27% of women users. Additionally, In the low-income neighbourhoods of Maputo, only one-third of women are connected to the Internet, compared to two-third of men.
In Beira, Mozambique’s second largest city, there is an even bigger discrepancy: 36% of men use computers, while only 15% of women in Beira do. Around one-third of young women between the ages of 15 to 25 do not own a mobile phone.
How African Women are Reclaiming the Internet:
Coding camps across Africa are accommodating females where they have access to crop prices, and medical insurance with cellphones. Urban youth can be seen texting on smart phones and start-up incubators, pointing to a digital revolution from Kigali to Lagos, Nairobi to Johannesburg.
Discrepancies Remain:
Still, Africa is far behind when it comes to technology and gender. Since 2013, the gender gap between internet users has largely narrowed. According to a 2017 report by the International Telecommunications Union, the proportion of women using the internet is 25% lower than the proportion of male users in the country.
This gender gap is fuelled by economic inequalities that exclude women from jobs, access to information, credit, education, healthcare, and general participation in the public sphere. Social norms and gender stereotypes are additional restrictions to women using technology.
There are also general barriers to technological access to digital literacy, which includes poverty and unreliable electricity. Additionally, there exist expensive airtime and data, coupled with poor infrastructure. The odds are not in their favours.
Patriarchal Barriers to Access:
Patriarchal African societies maintain rigid patterns that are carried across generations. This can be reflected in the University gender-gap. The digital gap begins at home, with little girls not given access to cellphones to play games on, while their brothers do. Girls are expected to participate in domestic chores and often take the role of caretakers for their siblings. Moreover, girls do not have leisure time to play and to learn how to use technology.
Power relations deem women in inferior positions to men, disallowing them to embark on technological endeavours. So far, the process to raise awareness and begin grassroots initiatives to provide girls with access to technology is slow. It is also labour intensive and hard to quantify but we hope it is never given up on.
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