Editing Development communication (section)

====Gender equality====

Although the discourse of development communication may recognize the importance of considering gender in the process of social change, organizational structures and norms may inhibit the successful implementation of projects. Despite the considerable attention directed toward women in health, nutrition, and population projects, women's conditions have not improved. This failure should not, however, be attributed as a direct consequence of development communication. Rather, the problematic conditions of women, along with the interventions designed to resolve them, need to be situated within a broader context of discourse and practice that privileges individual consumption and structural privatization in strategies for social change (Watkins, 1999, 63).

Hooda and Singh (2012) note that many feminist scholars recognize that everyday women's participation in the process of communication is essential. Involvement by the women to state their opinions in the institutions and systems that govern their lives is not only for recognition that participation is a basic human right, but also for a redistribution of political power in favor of disadvantaged groups. Involvement in decision-making is primarily about confronting the hegemonic structures of power—locally, nationally and globally (Sheth, 1997). It is a political action, a political struggle, a struggle that is not only among states, but also among people. Indeed, Wong (2012) shows why a discourse on gender matters in ICT for Development. Wong (2012) cites Resurreccion (2011)<ref>Resurreccion, B. (2011) ''The Gender and Climate Debate: More of the Same or New Pathways of Thinking and Doing?'', Asia Security Initiative Policy Series Working Paper no.10. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University.</ref> who stresses that the access to, and the use of, ICTs is gender-shaped in that gender influences how the benefits, costs and risks of ICTs are distributed between, and within, women and men. As noted by Kothari (1985),<ref>Kothari, R. (1985). New social forces. Development: Seeds of Change, 1, 11–14. La touche, S. (1997). Paradoxical growth. In M. Rahnema & V. Bawtree (Eds.), The Post-Development Reader (pp. 135–42). London: Zed Books.</ref> communications is not taken as informatics (alone), but as politics on issues of empowerment.

Information and communication, food security and nutrition, and gender equality are closely linked dimensions of rural development, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-Dimity Project, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dimitra Project|title=Dimitra Project: Communicating Gender for Rural Development, Integrating Gender in Communication for Development|url=http://www.fao.org/dimitra/home/en/|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization|access-date=26 April 2016}}</ref> The vital contribution of women to the agricultural sphere in developing societies cannot be overemphasized. It's critical to give rural women access to the same resources and opportunities as men in order to be more productive. To achieve enhanced productivity and better performance, women have to be provided access to information, knowledge and decision-making. Hooda and Singh (2011) however opine that with regard to the impact of technologies on women, there has been a tendency on the part of governments and development agencies to treat technologies as neutral, value-free, without taking into account the social, environmental and economic effects of the technology being introduced. A common assumption with respect to technology is that the simple existence of technology itself will advance competence and will thus fetch empowerment and reimbursement to the women. Wong (2012)<ref>Wong, Sam (2012). ''Exploring the 'GenderICTClimate Change' Nexus in Development:'' From Digital Divide to Digital Empowerment. ''Centre for Development Informatics''. Institute for Development Policy and Management, SED</ref> illustrates that restricted access to assets, gender-biased institutional arrangements, and unfavourable social structures have reduced women's capability to draw on ICTs in tackling climate change.  According to Hooda and Singh (2011), focus on ICT competence and capability compromises concerns related to equity. In any case, social equity requires assurance to women's equal opportunity. Therefore, women's equality needs to be integrated as a cornerstone of any development and communication strategy. In addressing these limitations, Wong (2012) outlines four digital empowerment proposals that may make 'ICT climate change' interventions more gender-sensitive:

(1) '''''Contextualise gender mainstreaming''''': gender mainstreaming helps integrate gender analysis into ICT policies. It acknowledges that men and women perceive and receive information differently, and that this requires diverse approaches to adaptation. However, the attempt to reposition women and girls as 'ecocarers' is problematic because this fails to capture their protective, as well as their destructive, role in relation to natural resources. Without addressing the unequal power relations between women

and girls, e-adaptive practices can also help reproduce the intergenerational equalities.

(2) '''''Strengthen governance''''': crafting new and reforming old, institutional arrangements is essential to improve gender inclusion. Women only interventions are sometimes necessary to empower previously excluded women to engage in ICT related decisions. However, poor and powerless men should also have their say in climate change policies.

(3) '''''Develop gender-sensitive funding mechanisms''''': securing adequate funding to support ICT interventions is crucial to gender empowerment. Yet, targeting women by microcredit projects risk putting an additional financial burden on them, and that needs serious reconsideration.

(4) '''''Recognise agency-structure dynamics''''': women are active agents, but they are socially constrained from engaging in ICT related decisions. Women's preferences, institutional arrangements and politics need to be taken into account in order to tackle digital exclusion.

Wong (2012) believes that taking the outlined four proposals are useful for development agencies, governments and NGOs to improve the gendered outcomes from use of ICTs in response to an issue as climate change. Thus, communicating from a gender perspective is important for fighting poverty and for supporting the economic empowerment of women. Women who are frequently the most disadvantaged gender in society are central to development, yet they have very little voice in the process of development planning. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment|url=https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150308220801/http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 March 2015|publisher=United States Agency for International Development|access-date=26 April 2016}}</ref> reports that ''"while women make up more than 40 percent of the agriculture labor force, only 3 to 20 percent are landholders. In Africa, women-owned enterprises make up as little as 10 percent of all businesses. In South Asia, that number is only 3 percent. And despite representing half the global population, women comprise less than 20 percent of the world's legislators."''

Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment is a vital key in utilizing human resources and capital on an enormous scale. According to the World Bank, ''"countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive".'' For communities to grow, gender equality policy and strategies have to be developed and implemented. Women must be provided access to information, technology, and education. They must have equal rights and equal opportunities as entrepreneurs, wage earners, and leaders of our society. Promoting gender equality is a profitable investment we can make to advance women development.

Since its early inception, development communication has been widely utilized by many regions of the world owing its strategic direction of alleviating the lives of the poor by extending knowledge and information to a number of projects and programs intended to create a sustainable life. Hence, development communication practice in various areas of the world yielded a number of policy integrations reflecting its core objectives for an inclusive development. True to its definition, development communication, according to S.T. Kwame Boafo, author of the article 'Utilizing Development Communication Strategies in African Societies: A Critical Perspective', "is the application of modem and traditional communication technologies to aid and enhance the process of socio-economic, political and cultural change. It is the planned, conscious and systematized use of communication strategies and processes to bridge informational and attitudinal gaps and to establish or sustain a climate that favors the process of change and development."<ref name="Boafo1985">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1177/001654928503500202|title = Utilizing Development Communication Strategies in African Societies: A Critical Perspective (Development Communication in Africa)|year = 1985|last1 = Kwame Boafo|first1 = S.T.|journal = Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands)|volume = 35|issue = 2|pages = 83–92| s2cid=220899557 }}</ref> However, this definition itself does not lend the idea that change immediately follows. Hence, Boafo articulated further that the definition above "does not imply that communication or information per se can effect development or change without an integrated and consistently pursued national development policy."<ref name="Boafo1985"/> Therefore, it is vital that development communication should be an integral element in the formulation of national policies so as to utilize its full potential.<ref name="Boafo1985"/>