ICTs, empowerment and Women in rural Uganda: A SCOT Perspective
A paper presented at the “to think is to experiment”; SSMAC, Centre for Narrative Research, UEL, 22nd April 2005
Patricia. K. Litho
1.0 Introduction
The belief that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can result to socio-cultural, economic and political change has resulted to a shift in development discourse (The World Bank 2004, OECD 2004, CIDA 2004, Hafkin and Wild 2002, G0U 2002, Sorensen 2002, Hafkin and Taggart 2001, Preston 2001, Adeya 2000, ECA 1999). It is now common to hear about Summits, meetings and conferences on ‘ICTs for development’, ‘cyberspace’, ‘digital economy’, ‘information superhighways’, ‘the information society and ‘networked society’ (Preston 2001) among others. A number of bilateral and multilateral donor organisations have now mainstreamed ICTs in their development programmes in order to more effectively meet the millennium development goals (OECD 2003).
These organisations look at ICTs as a ‘magic bullet’ that can offer Africa a great opportunity to “leapfrog stages of development” (Soltane 2002, UNCST 2002, Castells 2000, ECA 2000:14, World Bank and ECA 1999) and raise their standards of living” (Soltane 2002:40). This has led to massive investment in ICTs. The Canadian government , known to be the biggest supporter of ICTs for development (ICT4D), through its agencies CIDA, IDRC and Industry Canada invested over US $ 50.3 million just for the 2000-2001 financial year alone.
The faith in ICTs as a ‘miracle’ technology has also been embraced by African governments and made it a top priority for development” (Simpson 2003). African leaders now view ICTs as a tool that can provide opportunities in key sectors like; education, health, agriculture and trade (Soltane 2002, UNCST 2002, UCC 2001, ECA 1999). In 1995 for instance, the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), was endorsed by the Council of African Ministers of Communication. Most of the ICT work being implemented in Africa, including formulation of ICT policies is now done within the framework of the AISI (Simpson 2003, GOU 2002, Soltane 2002). The AISI has also been adopted as the regional component of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) ICT programme.
The description above demonstrates the determinist fashion in which ICTs are being presented as a panacea for development and yet other social processes also influence the social change. It is this kind of determinist philosophy that looks at technological change as ‘uncaused’ (Edge 1995 in Heap et al: 14, Mackenzie and Wajman1999) that this paper challenges. A social constructivist perspective is used to critique the determinist way in which gender issues were handled in the implemented of ICTs in Uganda.
2.0 Brief Definitions
2.1 Technological determinism (TD) is a technology change and society theory that looks at technology as powerful and enabling change in social relations. It is considered “the single most influential theory of the relationship between technology and society” (Mackenzie and Wajcman 1985:4 in Heap et al 1995:41, Edge 1995, Chandler 1995). TD defends the idea that technology leads to social change and increases opportunities and that the absence of technologies leads to constraints (Heap et al 1995, Chandler 1995). TD assumes that technological change is an independent factor that impacts on society from outside of society (Mackenzie and Wajman 1999).
The technological determinist way of thinking is common amongst politician and development organisations who claim that technologies can work miracles for Africa’s unending development problems.
2.2 Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) on the other hand falls within the social shaping theory which calls for the consideration of social elements in looking at technological change. Other theories within the social shaping theory include; the actor-network theory, systems approach and media and Cultural studies theories. I find it necessary to highlight these other theories because they are used to bridge the gaps within SCOT in the explanation of the relationship between technology and society.
Social Constructivist approach is of the view that technologies emerge out of the process of choice and negotiations between social groups (Heap et al 1995:42) thus defending the idea that technology is an ultimate outcome of social processes, designed in the interest of a particular social group and against the interest of others (Webster 1996). The principles of SCOT include; (i) the ‘relevant social group’; (ii) their ‘interpretative flexibility”; “ closure” and “workability”/ functionality of the technology.
‘Relevant social group’ according to Pinch (1996) must share meaning in the way they understand an ‘artefact’ and this meaning can then be used to give explanation to the particular development course that the artefact takes. The ‘Interpretative flexibility’ of a technology, on the other hand, is the way in which different social groups involved with a technology understand the technology. ‘Closure’ has to with a stage in the life of an artefact when it is considered to be ‘working’. It is important to note that closure on a specific artefact may be reached for one social group and not the other (Pinch 1996, Bijker 1987 in Fox 1996). According to Pinch, SCOT considers an artefact as ‘working’/functional only if it meets the needs for which it is required by a specific social group. In his article, “The Social Construction of Technology: A Review”, Pinch (in Fox 1996), gives the example of the development of the bicycle. While young men found the artefact working, women and elderly men found it too fast and therefore unsafe (see Pinch and Bijker 1984).
The Actor Network approach resulted as a critique to SCOT. It criticise SCOT for neglecting the valid aspect of technological determinism by ignoring the influence of technology upon social relations (Strum and Latour in Mackenzie and Wajman 1999). The actor-network theory looks at technology and society as ‘mutually constitutive’ (Mackenzie and Wajman 1999: 23) and continually influencing each other (Strum and Latour in Mackenzie and Wajman 1999, Heap et al 1995, Finnegan, Salaman and Thompson 1987). The actor network theory is similar to the technological systems perspective that looks at technology and society as made of the same ‘stuff’ and link or network human and non human elements (Mackenzie and Wajman 1999, Finnegan, Salaman and Thompson 1987).
The technological systems approach specifically focuses on the process of developing information systems like computers… (Hughes in Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999). This approach looks at the development of technology as a network between humans like the “system builders, inventors, engineers, manager and financiers” and non-human elements (Mackay 1995: 42).
Media and cultural studies approach is an approach that addresses the limitations of the social shaping approach and is mainly concerned with the consumption aspect of technology (Mackay in Heap et al 1995). According to Mackay the media and cultural studies approach is of the view that technological change is influenced by marketing forces and determined by its users. A new artefact therefore merely “opens a door” but “does not compel one to enter “(White 1978: 28 in Mackay 1995: 45). Technologies like ICTs should there facilitate and not determine the way they are used. They can be used differently depending on the user (Mackay 1995).
Despite their difference, what these approaches have in common is their effort to comprehend how “a variety of social, political and economic” aspects influence “technological development” (Fox 1996: 23). They all look at technological development as a “seamless Web” (Hughes 1986: 16 in Fox 1996:23) entrenched within societal economics and politics (Fox 1996).
3.0 The SCOT concept and the Uganda ICT Story
The main concepts within SCOT are ‘interpretative flexibility’, ‘closure of technology’, ‘workability of a technology’ and ‘relevant social groups’. In this section, these concepts are used to critically look at the ICT for development story in Uganda. Although ICTs are often presented in a determinist way as a panacea for development (UNCTAD 2003), they are actually influenced by political and economic processes (Webster 1995). Both these processes are social.
Relevant social groups and ICTs in Uganda
SCOT analyses the relationship between society and technological change through the notion of ‘Relevant social groups’ (Fox 1996) who play a role in the development of the technology. In the case of the ICT and rural women story in Uganda, these social groups can clearly identified as four. They include; (i) the development agencies; (ii) policy makers; (iii) the project implementing agency; and (iv) the project beneficiaries (rural women). But how do these understand ICTs. According to Fox (1996), the different meanings given to an artefact by different social group determines its ‘interpretative flexibility’. So how do these different social groups understand ICTs?
Interpretative flexibility and ICTs
Interpretative flexibility means that an artefact can be given radically different meanings or uses that were not initially anticipated. This may include their understanding of its characteristics, symbolic meaning and ‘criteria for judging’ its relevance (Bijker and Punch in Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999, Pinch 1996, Heap et al 1995, Bijker and Trevor 1995). The case of ICTs in Uganda has ably demonstrated this aspect. When ICTs were first introduced to the rural communities, the vision by development agencies and policy makers was that all roads would lead to community telecentre[1] (figure 1).
Figure 1
Source: Drawing from the Cyberpop home page: www.enda.sn/cyberpop in Michiels and Crowder (2001: 1)
It was anticipated that users would be using the ICT facilities to search for relevant information that could then be used for improving their agricultural and business activities (CEEWA 2003).
The implementing agency possibly did not have much choice but follow the thinking of the funders and policy makers. However the events that followed clearly demonstrate that the beneficiaries as a social group had a completely different interpretation of how the ICTs could benefit them. According to the SCOT perspective, unless a project is grounded in the reality that is best understood by the people living in it, it may not work effectively (Hafkin and Wild 2002, Heap et al 1999, Fox 1996).
Of the range of ICTs availed, the computer is least used in rural communities; instead the mobile telephone has picked up in a very surprising fashion. The mobile telephone concept has therefore been adapted to develop new kinds of phone booth; mobile phone booths. This is a creation of MTN Uganda, one of the leading telecom companies in Uganda, the concept was developed following market research that indicated that fixed booths were too far apart and peoples had to walk long distances to use them (MTN 2002).
Figure 2
A mobile booth mounted on a bicycle, the operator rides around to find potential users. Pictures by Kisa Phyllis (2004)
This innovation, like other mobile technologies have been successful because of the poor communication infrastructure in Uganda. Mobile phones have enabled previously under served areas to be reached. Prior to 1996, Uganda’s communication infrastructure was one of the least developed in the world (UNCST 2002) with only 46,000 fixed telephone lines and 3,500 mobile subscribers but this has significantly changed to over 61,000 fixed lines and 276,034 mobile subscribers (UNCST 2002).
The mobile phone in Uganda has been put to other uses; framers and traders are able to check market prices (through SMS services) on agricultural products, people can also check their bank account balance (just in one bank) and ‘beep’. The way beeping works is more like paging, if one has insufficient funds to make a call they will quickly flash, whoever they want to talk to, who then sees a missed call and returns the call. Beeping is indeed a wide spread practice especially amongst the youth and women. It also reflects people’s income level. The gender trend here is that there are more female than male ‘beepers’.
According to SCOT therefore unless a detailed description of the relevant social groups is done, it is not possible to function the artefact in respect to each group’s real needs. As demonstrated above, the international agencies possibly based their model on western concepts. This was taken without consideration of the environment to which the technology was being delivered. The implementations of these projects though aware of the reality on the ground just followed the donors demands. This is common practice because usually funds are attached to certain condition and pre-designed models (Stein 1997). The need for funds therefore compromises a number of developing countries. It is therefore necessary to go beyond the determinist discourse used to promote ICTs, as a magic bullet and critically look at people’s use or non use of ICTs; the artefacts workability/ functionality.
Closure and workability and ICTs
‘Closure’ of a technology is such a point at which a technology becomes stable. ICTs are still changing, each time new ways in which the technologies work are established and currently there is the aspect of convergence; where both new and old technologies are working together.
Outside the WIRES project as figure 3 shows, visibility of women in ICTS is minimal, this point to the fact that ICTs in their present state are not necessarily ‘working’ for some social groups. Women are reported to be uncomfortable with especially computer related ICTS like the computer, internet and email but find the mobile phone accessible. This shows that it is not enough to have access to ICTs, more important is its adequacy for a social groups’ needs (Huyer and Sikoska 2003).
The experience in Uganda therefore demonstrates that ICTs are socially constructed and are dynamic (OECD 2003, Spiker and Sorensen 2002), making it even harder to draw any serious conclusions about what it can and cannot do. The course ICTs are taking cannot yet be predicted since artefacts are interpretatively flexible and may take different shapes, therefore closure of ICTs have not been reached in Uganda. Haraway’s argument that technology is a ‘seamless web’, making it difficult to distinguish between what is human and what is technical (Fox 1996, Haraway 1991, Finnegan, Salaman and Thompson 1987) can also be used to examine the different aspects that influence the development and adaptation of ICTs in Uganda.
Figure 3
Source: IDRC website (www.idrc.org/Uganda/telecentre) ICT users at a telecentre in Uganda. Note that all the men are around the computers, while women meet in another room (top right corner). This a familiar scenario at the telecentre in rural Uganda.
4.0 Women and technological change
Women constitute the majority of the population in Uganda and many live in rural areas. However their vital role in socio-economic development is hardly recognised (Spiker and Sorensen 2002, Kole 1998, Huyer 1997, Rathgeber and Adera 2000, IDRC GIWA 1995, Morna and Khan 2000, Adeya 2001, World bank 2004, Stamp 1989, Kole 1998). This situation is even worse in the case of development and technology, where attention to women is limited. For instance the history of ICTs and development in Africa go way back to the 1970s (Hafkin and Wild 2002), and yet issues relating to women only started be dealt with in the 1990s (Adeya 2003, AIS-GWG 1999, AIS-GWG 1999).
The mainstream assumption is now that ICTs are neutral and useful to all regardless of gender, social, economic or political context (Huyer 1997, Stamp 1989). ICTs are however now being promoted by governments and development agencies as a tool having the potential to empower the marginalised, especially women living in rural Africa (IDRC 2003, UNCST 2002, GoU 2002, World Bank 2003, UNDP 2003, CEEWA 2002). There is also limited participation from women in the policy process and this alienates women’s concerns in the established ICT policies (Huyer 1997). Even worse is the situation of rural women. In rural Uganda women have no right to land (CEEWA 2003), nor do they have decision making powers. Without consulting their husbands or male authorities in their life they cannot do very much (CEEWA 2003). These circumstances means the women have restricted access to information or ICTs.
Women, ICTs, social relations and Power structures
One of the criticisms on SCOT is that it ignores social relations, power structures and gender aspects in discussing technology change and society (Fox 1987, Kole 1998). It is at this point therefore that other Social shaping theories like the Actor Network (ANT) and media and cultural studies theory become particularly useful to this study. According to ANT and the Media and cultural studies theory, (Gajjala 2002), it is important to stress the unequal power relations within social structures (Gajjala 2002, Huyer 2003). The power relations that surround the use of ICT in Uganda and gender will be discussed using an integrated approach but with a specific feminist perspective which is the overarching theoretic perspective of this study.
Although all social groups matter in the development of a technology, development practice tends to only consult men and ignore women and as a result, technology that is introduced for development is inappropriate to the needs, priorities and circumstance of women (Kole 1997, 1998). In Uganda for instance, a country wide consensus building consultation (UNCST 1987) done prior to introducing the telecentre but documents of these processes show that very few women participated and so mainly men perspectives were taken into account. If the rural women had been consulted when these programmes were being designed, the women’s unique needs would have been identified in good time and incorporated into the design of the ICT project to ensure its ‘workability’. The rich indigenous knowledge that women posses have that could have been instrumental in developing suitable ICTs for development projects for women (Huyer 1997) have been missed.
A key reason why the women could have played a minimum role in the consensus building consultation, especially women in rural communities is because in Uganda like other African countries, the gender roles are very different (Kole 1998, Huyer 1997). While women are responsible for the reproductive, productive and community roles, the men are responsible for public duties like politics and decision making processes and public discussions (Kole 1998, Stamp 1998). The fact that ICTS are regulated by decision makers, the majority who are men, could also point to the nature of policies and implementation strategies that Uganda has adopted that neglects the concerns of women. Persistent gender and power structural inequalities therefore constitute to barriers on how women can utilise ICTs. These constraints include education, traditional cultural beliefs and practices, economic inequality, domestic schedule ICTs are actually created within male dominated environments (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). This will also be further investigated during the empirical study.
Other scholars argue that women’s limited engagement with ICTs is because of structural inequalities like the unequal access to education men and women, ‘glass ceiling’ in ICT industry (Sorensen 2002). These educational related aspects are linked to choices made for women by their families on what they can engage with and what they cannot. Science and technology are still looked at male domains in Uganda and women are just being encouraged to take up such areas (Huyer and Sikoska 2003, Hafkin and Taggart 2001, Ministry of Gender, GoU 2002, Wyatt et al 2000, Stamp 1989, Huyer 1997).
The differences in the way men and women adapt to and adopt technology is also discussed by Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999, Cockburn 1983 in Mackenzie and Wajcman (1999) and Cowan (1979) in Mackenzie and Wajcman (1999). The concerns include aspects of equal opportunities, greater representation of women in technological issues and whether technology is ‘shaped by gender’ or whether gender is shaped by technology (Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999:25) According to Cowan knowledge associated with women is often not regarded as technology for instance the exclusion of artefacts like the feeding baby bottle and yet it had had great impact on the experience between women and infants and has been a controversial export of western technology to developing countries but has no place in the histories of technology (Cowan 1979: 52 in Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999:25).
Despite these shortcomings SCOT can be used to have an understanding of the ‘interpretative flexibility’ and ‘workability’ of ICTs as a result of gender disparities. In order for a technology to be considered working, it must fit into the social context of a specific social group (Huyer and Sikoska 2003, Fox 1996); in this case rural women in Uganda, and be able to accomplish a given task or else it is just “an inanimate object” (Montgomery 2002, Huyer and Sikoska 2003). The implication here therefore, is that for ICTs to meet the needs of the rural women, it should fit into their everyday reality and them to the other way round, as seems the case. Women and men are affected differently by technology, have differing abilities to use it and value the technology differently (Huyer and Sikoska 2003, Adera and Rathgeber 2000, Caspary and O’Connor 2003). The experience in Uganda for instance demonstrates that although telecentre were set by IDRC with gender consideration in mind (IDRC 1987), mainly men used the facilities (Figure 3) and as a result, the WIRES project was set up to address such gaps. Women, besides feeling uneasy using the ICTs facilities in the presence of men had other short coming like domestic schedule, husband restrictions, literacy levels, low income level, technophobia, language and social cultural restrictions (Huyer and Sikoska 2003, Huyer 1997, Kole 1998, APC 1997). To address this yet another facility was developed specifically for the women. A CD-ROM, fitted with audio –visual facilities, with content in a local language that most women in the project use and understand.
Figure 4
Anastasia (wearing glasses) conducts a computer lesson at one of the telecentres in Uganda. Source: The Monitor Newspaper (2002: 10), photo by Mulindwa Rogers
Conclusion
Like other technology and development projects in Africa, the WIRES project seems to have been set from a determinist perspective. The projects main aim is to use ICTs for the economic empowerment of women. According to the WIRES project manager, “the most important realisation of the ICT project is that it has lead to economic empowerment of the women and also poverty reduction in the communities”. What seems over looked from this sweeping statement is the fact that other social and political processes within the communities the project is implemented could have also influenced change in these rural communities[2]. Also the women’s quality of life has not changed much although it is claimed that they have been empowered as a result of using ICTs. It is therefore that the aspects of ‘relevant social groups’, ‘interpretative flexibility’, ‘ workability’, ‘social relations and power structures are considered when implementing technologies.
It is however important to note that being critical of Technological Determinism does not mean discounting the fact that ICTs resulted to certain changes, It is just that other factors have also contribute to social changes in the lives of women in rural communities in Uganda. The point SCOT tries to make therefore is that it would be wrong to give all the credit to ICTs because they are not the only players in the environment that rural women live in (Chandler 1997). TD therefore contains partial truth’ (Mackenzie and Wajcman 1999:3).
As opposed to TD that is all praises of ICTs, some studies (Cowan 1982 in Sorensen 2002) have established that technologies aimed at making a woman’s life better sometimes increase their burdens (also established during the pilot study for this project). ICTs are therefore not just about people using the technologies but about the technology working to meet the needs of the users (Workability). There is therefore a need to strike a balance between SCOT, TD and other theories that look at technological change and society
Most of these technologies have been developed based on western models and notions of what people in developing countries need and as a result generated negative consequences. The people responsible for technology choices are usually those least affected by them, those most affected who must adapt and live with these choices have the least say about them.
A critical aspect that was ignored here is the fact that technology is a social construct and as such the same technology would mean different things to different social groups. As a product of society, technologies embody gender differences but many times this is not taken into consideration when designing development projects. Because different social groups attach different meaning to technologies, it should not be assumed that the rejection of a technology is due to lack of understanding by the recipients, it is just that the technology does not work for them. The more important question to ask, however is that how do ICTs work for an agro based community like Uganda, can ICTs multiply livestock, improve health and provide food?
It should be appreciated that despite availability of the telecentre, the ICT facilities are not available in homes and looking at the nature of a woman’s domestic schedule, very limited time is available to indulge in the utilisation of the telecentre. The income of the women is low and yet accessing the ICT facilities requires money and yet the women have learnt to appreciate the benefits of ICTs. The women also have to walk long distances to reach the centres and that is why the mobile technology (figure 2) is more popular than any other ICT in Uganda. This disparity is often called the ‘gender digital divide’. The patriarchal structures that influence division labour and the domestic schedule of women which in turn influences how they can use the available ICTS will also be considered during the empirical study.
SCOT, as a social shaping theory, although criticised for attacking technology and trying to pull society back into to a ‘mythical natural state’ (Mackenzie and Wajman 1999, also see Haraway 1985), actually offers a useful analytical framework for this study. SCOT will enable the researcher to look at how gender issue influenced the implementation of ICTs in Uganda as a whole but more specifically how the rural environment has influenced how women and men understand ICTs.
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