The internet and empowerment: a study on women internet users in Bangladesh
Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study poses the question of whether and under what conditions the Internet was or was not an empowering tool for women Internet users in Bangladesh. Hence, the focus is on home-based female Internet users. The main thrust of the study was on those women who were not associated with technology, academically or professionally. In other words, my target people were plain and simple home-based women Internet users. The study is based on the domestication of technology theory and on the concept of empowerment in terms of agency. In-depth interviews were conducted among sixteen participants from two different cities in Bangladesh. The aim of the research was to attain information on women's use of the Internet, what they understood by empowerment and if their use of the Internet contributed in any way to their empowerment. The data show that compared to men, women are late on joining the Internet phenomenon in Bangladesh. The study also shows that women are using the Internet for many interesting purposes. Similar to other developing countries, this study has found that the respondents belong to middle and upper-middle class families with higher levels of education. According to their definition of empowerment, women respondents believe that their use of the Internet is bringing empowerment to them. In a male dominated society, this is definitely a significant move forward.
Description
Bibliography: p. 114-121
Keywords
Citation
Choudhury, N. (2008). The internet and empowerment: a study on women internet users in Bangladesh (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/2054