ICT, Intermediaries, and the Transformation of Gendered Power Structures

Oreglia, Elisa; Srinivasan, Janaki

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are believed to hold much potential to empower women, both socially and economically, in low-income and rural communities. In this paper, we focus on rural women who mediate ICT use as telecenter operators in India and as helpers and enablers for family members in rural China. We explore under what circumstances they may be able to renegotiate existing gendered power structures. We argue that acts of reconciling or confronting these different spaces they inhabit can allow intermediaries to remake their own identities and positions in their community. This process, rather than the potential associated with ICTs, is where spaces for empowerment often lie.

Citation

Oreglia, E., & Srinivasan, J. (2015). ICT, Intermediaries, and the Transformation of Gendered Power Structures. MIS Quarterly, 40(2), 501-510

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 5, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 26, 2015
• Deposit Date: May 31, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 31, 2016
• Journal: MIS Quarterly
• Electronic ISSN: 0276-7783
• Publisher: Management Information Systems Research Center
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 501-510
• Keywords: gender, intermediaries, Global South, India, China, ICT, mobile phones, telecenters
• Publisher URL: http://misq.org/ict-intermediaries-and-the-transformation-of-gendered-power-structures.html?SID=5i4v2guf5mqqsgu87hv61b7co0
• Related Public URLs: http://misq.org/ict-intermediaries-and-the-transformation-of-gendered-power-structures.html?SID=5i4v2guf5mqqsgu87hv61b7co0