Women and ICT in Africa and the Middle East: Changing Selves, Changing Societies

This book offers a selection of articles that look at the link between information and communication technology (ICT) and women’s empowerment, and how ICTs can facilitate the pursuit of a world that is grounded in social justice and sustainability.

The articles highlight the work of the Gender Research in Africa and the Middle East into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE) Network. They are based on 21 research projects conducted in 14 countries during the period 2008-2012, and offer "a multitude of perspectives and experiences, avoiding simplistic answers and solutions."
 
The 21 articles are categorised into 3 main parts:

• Part one - Agentic ICT use: the aspiration for emancipation versus the power of gender tradition - The chapters in this section show that the use of ICT can contribute to women enhancing their personal and professional lives and that ICT as a professional arena can offer women rewarding career opportunities. However, the articles highlight how "deeply held societal beliefs and structures that emphasize male dominance and superiority and foreground women's main (albeit unrewarded) role of supporting husbands and families are brought by both women and men to the practices and discourses around the use of ICT."

• Part two - Developing critical voice in and through safe ICT-created space -The authors in the chapters describe how women develop their capacity for critical voice in safe ICT-created spaces.

• Part three – ICT-enhanced relating and becoming: personal and social transformation - The chapters in this section show how the processes of personal and social change are interwoven and how ICT can accelerate and augment these dynamics by enhancing women's being, doing, becoming, and relating.