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various cultural barriers limit the opportunities forwomen to access ICTs, including harassment, workoverload (particularly in rural areas) and genderedperceptions in relation to the use of certain ICTs.Given the key role of women both in household foodsecurity and in improving agricultural productivity,ICT-for-agriculture interventions should include explicitstrategies for assuring access by women, andfor strengthening the information, communicationand networking resources of women. Therefore, inaddition to economic empowerment, it is of paramountimportance from the policy perspective toensure the implementation of the various legislativeinstruments adopted by the government tosafeguard the equal rights of women and men – toaccelerate equitable participation in society and theeconomy by all.Action stepsIn the framework of the guiding principles of Ethiopia’sICT policy, it is noted that the policy seeks toensure unhindered access to ICTs, and that genderinequalities shall be gradually eliminated by buildingthe capacity of women and girls in the use of ICTs.To this effect, one of the pillars of the policy is ICTand education, which aims to ensure that ICTs are anintegral part of education and training at all levels.One of the strategies to achieve this is developingspecial ICT training programmes for women – andgroups such as people with disabilities – in orderto address gender and social inequalities. To thisend, it is of paramount importance for the Ministryof Communications and Information Technology tostart implementing this strategy. This is needed bothin order to achieve the government’s commitmentsin ensuring women’s rights, and to enable womento play an active role in the social and economicspheres, thereby accelerating economic growth.It is noted that women’s contribution in the agriculturesector is greater than men’s, particularlyin post-harvest activities. It is therefore importantthat the ECX provide special support to women,particularly in rural areas, to ensure their equal accessto market information. These measures couldinclude working with networks of community ICT accesspoints, both to create awareness on the use ofmobile- and internet-based services and to enablewomen to use these services. ■128 / Global Information Society Watch