Information Needs of Rural Women: A Study of Three Villages of Bangladesh

The information society is where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life (Olorunda, 2004). The main objective of information society is to empower all the people through access to and use of information, but there is concern that some people, including women, are more distant than others from the opportunities presented by the changes being created by ICTs. Women\u27s education and empowerment have been important social, economic, and political issues in the developing countries like Bangladesh and over the past three decades Bangladesh has made impressive gains in these areas. Women of Bangladesh are now participating in family decision making as well as in national and international socio-economic and political development. Women, irrespective of location, need information on family health, food and nutrition, family planning and child education, but rural women also need information regarding agriculture and animal husbandry for their involvement in socio-economic growth. However, the women who live in villages have lack of access to information resources and inability to have access to Information and Communication Technology. The rural women are remained as unexploited national resources and the whole nation would be benefited if they are properly involved in the development activities in a planned way (Agriculture Information Service [AIS], 2004). Library or information centers can mitigate information needs of rural women through access to relevant information and can enable rural women of Bangladesh participating in the national economic development