African Women, ICT and Neoliberal Politics: The Challenge of Gendered Digital Divides to People-Centered Governance
Assata Zerai, "African Women, ICT and Neoliberal Politics: The Challenge of Gendered Digital Divides to People-Centered Governance "
English | ISBN: 1138559369 | 2018 | 171 pages | EPUB | 1135 KB
English | ISBN: 1138559369 | 2018 | 171 pages | EPUB | 1135 KB
How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies.
Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries.
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