The opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies (ITCs) have yet to reach the majority of potential users in the world. We are witnessing an increased disparity between users who have the means to access information and those who do not.
The major barrier to this is political will. Following that the constraints are mostly educational, technological and financial in nature.
In a world of more than six billion men and women, literacy rates are low in developing countries. Barely 2 percent are linked to the Internet and most people on the planet have never made a telephone call. In the United States of America, Internet access costs a user only 1 percent of average monthly income, whereas in Uganda it costs more than a month's average (per capita) income. Similar gaps persist between men and women, especially in developing countries. In China and South Africa, for example, women users comprise only 7 percent and 17 percent of users, respectively. These statistics underline the fact that there is no sole digital divide but many overlapping ones: between old and young, men and women, rich and poor, urban and rural and, above all, between developed and developing nations.
The information and communication technology revolution has greatly increased the possibilities for disseminating and sharing knowledge, and yet disadvantaged segments of society are excluded from information and communication flows, raising the question of how best to exploit the technological developments in a way that prevents them from increasing inequalities (FAO, Strategy for Action). Rural people face constraints in accessing appropriate and timely information1 -outside of urban areas, access to technologies but equally to services and up-to-date information hampers economic development. ICTs can support bottom-up articulation of development needs and perceptions and facilitate linking global and local knowledge.
Many development efforts have failed women in the past because they do not take into account the role that woman farmers play in agriculture and food security. Furthermore, the exchange, mobilization and outreach capacities offered by information technologies are of little benefit to women, particularly in developing countries.
The many reasons for this include:
Globalization and new information technologies are transforming the way that production is organized and information is shared around the world. These changes could accelerate progress towards gender equality. But unless researchers and policy-makers give attention to gender when considering the opportunities and risks, and unless women have a voice in how these new technologies are developed and deployed, the new technologies could very well exacerbate existing inequalities.
ICTs offer remarkable opportunities for the cost-effective production and dissemination of information products tailored to the specific needs of local and global audiences. FAO is well placed to capitalize fully on developments in the ICT sector. The Organization will continue to make available modern tools and systems to enable the production of information products using a variety of media, such as radio, video and CD-ROMs, as well as traditional print materials. Full integration of production and dissemination through the use of the Internet will occur and more emphasis will be placed on ensuring that these Web-based processes and tools meet industry standards.2
In order to respond to all these needs, a strategy for action entitled "Gender and food security -the role of information" designed at the High-level Consultation on Rural Women and Information (Rome, October 1999) has been incorporated in the FAO Gender Plan of Action 2002-2007. The strategy stresses:
FAO has analyzed the relationships among sustainable development, food security, gender equality and information and identified some of the factors that contribute to increased poverty and exclusion as:
To this end, FAO has been working to harness the benefits that new ITCs can play in supporting women's information and knowledge networks such as the Dimitra Project (a communication and information project aimed at increasing the visibility of contributions of rural women to development).
(Photo FAO)
Additional information about gender and food security is available at http://www.fao.org/gender/gender.htm.
* Sophie Treinen, Information Management Specialist, WAICENT/FAOSTAT Data Management Branch
1 What FAO termed the first mile of connectivity as seen from the rural communities perspective. The first mile of connectivity, FAO, 1998, (available at http://www.fao.org/sd/cddirect/cdre0025.htm)
2 Ensuring cost-effective and high-quality information products, FAO Medium Term Plan
