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main purpose of women in African society, which comprises marriage,
reproduction and domestic duties; and how women move away from their
families upon marriage while men stay at home with their wives and
continue to contribute towards their family economy. Boys and men are
therefore highly valued, and more investment is made in their education,
health, and future income earning potential. Further remarks by the author
indicate that the role of women in African society is not only markedly
distinct from that of men, but also strongly defined by views held of a
woman's capability, purpose and needs.
Concomitantly, as technology/tools are designed to accomplish a given task,
there's a need to understand the social context of technology before and
during project design and implementation. Hence, the social decisions in a
community based on gender, ethnicity, race, class and age must be clearly
understood, as each play an important role in the adoption rate of lCTs in a
given community. This study underscores this form of analytical thinking.
The study hopes to assist decision-makers in understanding how gender
perceptions shape the design of technology, and how the environment
determines how men and women use technology. Women thus need to be
motivated and mobilised in order to use lCTs.
An expanded understanding of the power of knowledge and the role lCTs
play therein is an important element of this study. The study will seek to
show the mechanisms of promoting information access and use by women in
arenas such as health, education, business, social welfare and agriculture.
The study also sought to show areas in which women can be empowered via
the information revolution, for instance through training, skills enhancement,
capacity building and participatory mechanisms.
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