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ural women of not only Kenyan and South African descent, but also rural
women in many developing countries. Additionally, even if the information
accessed is useful, development outcomes are often negligible as end-users
do not have the capacity to act. For instance, market prices delivered to the
rural poor are rendered useless given the poor physical infrastructure
prevalent in many developing nations.
With the help of empirical data, this study intends to determine the extent to
which these hindrances manifest themselves in the daily lives of rural
women, vis-it-vis the use of various ICTs. The study also intends to suggest
suitable development initiatives that could be undertaken in order to
improve current situations. Similarly, through case studies, thiS study
intends to portray practical examples currently being used in an effort to
promote ICT access amongst marginalised rural women.
The arena of education is another stumbling block faced by most developing
countries. A large percentage of rural women either have only basic primary
education, or for that matter, no schooling at all. This impediment poses
great challenges, particularly in project planning and the implementation of
ICT related projects. As most rural women are still educationally
disadvantaged, barriers to universal access are not only about the
availability of telecommunications infrastructure and computing equipment,
but also about barriers to individual access, such as those afforded by
educational and soda-cultural backgrounds (e.g. technophobia). These
barriers are further illustrated by Ballantyne, Labelle and Rudgard (2000),
who argue that the use of ICTs is limited by lack of awareness, skills,
training, a shortage of capital resources for sustainability and maintenance,
and the low provision of appropriate content, both in terms of language and
subject matter. Given that ICTs in most African countries span not more
than three decades, there is little if any empirical data in relation to ICTs and
the educational/computer literacy levels of rural women. In order to create a
demand-driven ICT consumer community in the rural areas, these
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