African Women, ICT and Neoliberal Politics

The Challenge of Gendered Digital Divides to People-Centered Governance

Assata Zerai

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351363655
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: African Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies.

Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries.

Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.

1The mobile ecosystem and internet access on the African continent

Asymmetry and the gender digital divide

In this chapter, in preparation of my reexamination of the ICT–knowledge diffusion hypothesis offered by Asongu and Nwachukwu (2016), I examine World Bank indicators and Demographic and Health Surveys data to describe differences between nations on the African continent in relation to cell phone ownership and internet access. I also examine the available evidence concerning the gender digital divide. An overview of countries for which cell phone ownership data is available provides a useful backdrop to examining the experiences of women in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe in later chapters.

World Bank indicators: differences among nations of the African continent in relation to i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of acronyms
• Foreword
• Introduction: In the traditions of Professor Victor C. Uchendu and Professor Ifi Amadiume: African women and the challenge of digital divides to people-centered governance
• 1 The mobile ecosystem and internet access on the African continent: Asymmetry and the gender digital divide
• 2 ICT, women’s status, and governance in Zimbabwe
• 3 ICT, women’s status, and governance in Tanzania, 2010 and 2015–2016
• 4 ICT, women’s status, and governance in Malawi, 2010 and 2015–2016
• 5 ICT, diffusion of knowledge to women, gender-inclusive governance, and impacts on women’s lives in three African nations
• Conclusion
• References
• Index