Gender digital divide in rural Pakistan : to measure and to bridge it; revised final technical report, November 2007 - April 2010

While Pakistan’s National Information Technology (IT) Policy aims at harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, especially in the underserved rural areas, it by and large ignores the role of existing gender inequalities on the possible benefits of ICTs. We have investigated aspects of the ‘gender digital divide’ in rural areas of Pakistan. In doing so, we have generated evidence and raised awareness regarding the gaps existing among women and men’s, and girls and boys’ access to, and use of, ICTs. These discrepancies were analysed in order to better understand their impact on human development in general and women’s empowerment in particular. Through the study results, we hope to enable an evidence-based, gender-sensitive revision of the policy as well as ICT-related interventions from which both females and males gain. The study took place in four of the most marginalized rural districts of the country where this divide is likely to be most pronounced. The sampling strategy was motivated by the assumption that such extreme cases may be especially enlightening, in particular in the context of directly policy-relevant research. In the present context, we assumed that the selection of rural districts characterized by greater degree of deprivation in terms of income, education and health may provide a more robust base for policy recommendations intended to narrow the gender digital divide. A mixed methods study was undertaken, combining a questionnaire-based survey and focus group discussion. While the quantitative data, generated by randomly selected sample, provides a basis for generalisation, the focus on female FGD participants was motivated by the need to give a voice to stakeholders whose situation and interests are poorly represented in related policy discourses in Pakistan. The data suggest mobile phones to be the ICT that is most commonly available in rural Pakistan. Radios are the second and TV sets are third most widespread technologies in marginalised rural areas. Despite the wide reach of mobile phones, mobile sets at hand are largely owned by women’s husbands, fathers and brothers, whose permission to make calls is required by a large share of all female respondents. We, therefore, argue that availability and gendered use of ICTs are two different things altogether. Social norms related to women and girls’ access to education as well as regulating their mobility prevent them from using ICTs. These norms have to be taken into account in policies and interventions to ensure women and girls’ access to and beneficial use of ICTs