THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF A KNOWLEDGE-BASED GLOBAL ECONOMY AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

B. Yasodha Jagadeeswari*

T.S. Kalyani**

Abstract

       Information and communication technologies (ICT) are central to the creation of a global knowledge-based economy and society. ICT can play an especially important role in accelerating growth, eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development in developing and transition economy countries and in facilitating their beneficial integration into the global economy. Information and knowledge are playing a lead role in the world economy today in the post-industrial or advanced industrial society comparable to that of traditional production factors in the past, such as steam or electricity. Today, the volume of information is growing at an accelerating pace. Information and knowledge seemingly make time, space and distance shrink. ICT serve as a transmission belt to generate, access, disseminate and share knowledge, data, information, and communications and best practices. What, then, constitutes a knowledge-based economy? Such an economy will have undergone a substantial sectoral restructuring, accomplished the integration of new ICT-based products and processes, and relied on knowledge-based approaches and management. New information

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technologies, by reducing the cost and speed of communication, have played a critical role in “globalizing” production and financial markets. Billions of people still live, untouched by the ICT revolution, in abject poverty with its implications of disease, illiteracy and despair. The emerging “new economy”, characterized by a rapidly increasing reliance of value-creation on information and knowledge, is still very much a “rich country phenomenon”. Historically, the isolation of women from the mainstream economy and their lack of access to information because of societal, cultural and market constraints have led them to become distant from the global pool of information and knowledge. By focusing on the improved use of information and communication technologies, women can broaden the scope of their actions and address issues which are previously beyond their capacity. ICTs have thus the potential to digitally link each and every women in the world in a star topology network which opens up endless possibilities for information exchange. This mechanism could be used by women in creative ways, both to communicate with other people who are online, and also to disseminate information to people in the outside world who are not online through the use of convergence and hybrid technologies such as community emails, community ratio broadcast, tele-centres, newsletter, videos, etc. This mechanism forms the skeletal process through which women communities could overcome the constraints of seclusion, mobilize resources and support, reach out new markets, and open up avenues for life-long learning.

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Introduction

       ICT are usually understood as pertaining to computers, networking and electronic data processing, as well as rapidly improving communications technologies, including mobile telephony, satellite communications, multifold expansion in bandwidths for voice and data-carrying capacity by the use of new materials, such as fiber-optics, as well as the software for new, more efficient and more widespread applications of these new technologies and capacities. This phenomenon is driven by new ways, of technical advances, create new platforms, that make it possible to combine and bringing these new technologies together and creating the basis for further and even more rapid advances.

       The central purpose and effect of this phenomenon is an escalating and all-pervasive capacity to harness, access and apply information and diffuse knowledge at electronic speed to all walks of human activity. This is revolutionizing not only the processes of production and consumption and modes of organization but also the way the people live, work and interact with each other. Information and knowledge have, thus, emerged as a central, strategic factor of economic and social progress. Today, countries are increasingly judged by whether they are information-rich or information-poor.

       In the “new networked economy taking shape in industrialized countries, a substantial share of GDP growth is attributable to the output and activities of the information technologies and Internet-related sector and to an unprecedented rate of technological change. In addition, the overall knowledge content of products and services is increasing. This is complemented by the emergence of “knowledge workers” as a new type of economic actors. In sum, the world is witnessing the creation of a “digital economy” or knowledge-based economy.

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ICT, Globalisation and the New Knowledge Based Economy

       They affect the international division of labour, bring about new patterns of economic engagement and social interaction, determine the competitiveness of economies and corporations, generate new growth patterns and bring about hitherto unknown products, jobs and livelihoods. The ICT industry in the United States is estimated to account for one third of United States economic growth and employs 7.4 million persons at wages that are more than 60 per cent higher than the private sector average. Many signs point to a further rapid expansion of the ICT sector world wide: total world bandwidth in 1996 amounted to 200 trillion bits/day; in 2001 9,000 trillion bits. Today there are 400 million personal computers and about a billion telephones in the world; 10 years from now, according to some forecasts, there will be 1 billion personal computers and 3 billion telephones. Three central features are at the heart of the knowledge revolution. Information and knowledge are instantaneously accessible, they are transportable and can be simultaneously distributed to an unlimited number of users. Indeed, they cannot be depleted. Their use by one does not prevent their use or consumption by another. They cannot be owned, though their delivery mechanism can. Selling them entails sharing, not exclusive transfer. Indeed, information and knowledge represent a global public good.

       A networked structure and networking activities are other novel features of the digital economy. Nations and corporations are transforming themselves into a networked world economy where everybody can communicate directly with everybody else, where hierarchies lose importance and where popular participation is becoming increasingly widespread and influential.

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Characteristics of the Knowledge – Based Global Economy:

       The information revolution is being driven by the convergence in communication and computing technologies, the rapid growth in network computing and the sharp decline in the cost and price of information processing, which are making information and knowledge more important and more readily accessible. This revolution is pervasive in its impact and is transforming existing economic and social relations into an “information and knowledge society”, and is one of the key driving forces and main vehicle for the process of globalization and interdependence. While it is a market-driven and market-oriented phenomenon in which the private sector has played and continues to play a key role, public service sector support has been critical in nurturing the revolution and, in particular, for the development of information highways in the developed countries.

       This greater application of information and knowledge is emerging as a new determinant of competitiveness for firms and countries. In fact, adequate access to information and knowledge is increasingly becoming an imperative, a necessary condition for a presence in the market. While the full extent of the impact of the ICT revolution is yet to be understood, it is clear, however, that economic success in this new and rapidly changing economic environment will require considerable agility and adaptability. Those countries, sectors, organizations and individuals that can adapt will fare better than those that cannot or will not adapt.

       In turn, globalization has spurred technological diffusion and the adoption of new forms of work organization. Knowledge and information have become significant factors in production and services, and are increasingly providing the

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cutting edge in successfully competing in the global economy. For instance, in a number of major industries in developed countries, there is a move by large corporations towards consolidated online purchasing. Existing and potential suppliers (especially those from developing countries) who lack fast and reliable access to these technologies and networks will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in these industries. For them, expansion of e-commerce, instead of facilitating their enhanced participation in global trade flows, may become another trade barrier.

       The convergence of communication and computing technologies, especially through the Internet, is the most significant feature of this information technology revolution. The Internet is a widespread information infrastructure. It is at once a worldwide broadcasting system, a mechanism for information dissemination, a medium for interaction between individuals, and a market place for goods and services. It is therefore, rapidly becoming a global communication and information tool and a source of considerable economic potential for individuals, firms and countries.

       Estimates for a number of economies suggest, however, that the share of the information technology sector and of the “Internet economy” is growing fast and rivals that of the leading “old economy” sectors, such as energy and automobiles. The growth of the “Internet economy” is further amplified by the rapid adoption of the use of information technology by sectors of the “old economy” in their existing activities in general and their movement towards e-commerce in particular.

       The digitalization of production of goods and services is a principal feature of the emerging networked global

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economy where an increasing share of economic value resides in items with negligible physical characteristics, such as weight. The implication of this development is that, for example, instead of a material product being traded, it is increasingly the knowledge to create and use that material product that is being traded. Knowledge and information are now in their own right the commodities of value in the networked global economy. The developmental possibilities of this new reality are enormous.

       In a knowledge-based economy, the nature of work, the range of occupations and the skills requirements also change. Work becomes more flexible and adaptable to production structures, and work arrangements that are less regulated, more geographically dispersed and diversified are emerging. New jobs that did not exist 10 years ago have appeared on the labour market. As a consequence, a broader knowledge base is needed that enables people to find their way in the information society. Such knowledge includes learning skills, key technical skills and a range of social skills. Education and training, the institutions through which those are delivered, and the degree of access to them are critical factors in taking advantage of ICT. These are also key determinants of competitiveness in the global economy.

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The Potential of Information and Communication Technologies for Advancing Development

       There is substantial empirical evidence in support of the observation that societies and economies are being transformed by the ICT revolution in ways that increase productivity, enhance the quality of life, reduce prices, create new economic activities and new employment opportunities and generate wealth. However, ICT is also one of the factors behind the observed increase in income inequality and the fall of the relative wages of the least skilled over the last two decades within most countries of the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, economies in transition and in many developing countries. The extent of the economic transformation brought about by the ICT revolution is not evenly distributed across the globe and the expected benefits will, therefore, not be equally shared unless urgent action is undertaken to change existing trends.

       Consequently, the development agenda will increasingly have to reflect these new realities and new potentials. Creation, acquisition, sharing and management of knowledge should play a qualitatively more prominent role, in addition to the transfer of physical and financial capital, as a key to development and poverty eradication. The empowerment of women and men to utilize new technologies and to apply their creative potential, knowledge and ability to their development challenges appears increasingly to be one of the keys to enhancing the capabilities of developing countries and poor communities to leapfrog stages of development and thereby close the income and human development gap that today separates them from the developed world.

       ICT offers opportunities for new and faster growth patterns at the country level, based on new products, and new

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forms of employment opportunities and livelihoods. Many countries, including developing countries, have experienced a positive correlation between the consumption of information technology and technological development as well as economic growth. ICT-related production, such as software development or manufacturing of computer components, in some countries has developed into a dynamic sector of the economy in its own right. In Costa Rica, for example, exports from the microchip industry account for 38 percent of all exports. In India, software exports exceeded $4 billion in 2000, and the service economy already contributes more than 60 percent to the cities such as Mumbai.

       ICT can shape and enhance a wide range of development applications – from electronic commerce and assistance to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to the empowerment of communities, women and youth, from the promotion of good governance and decentralization to advocacy programmes, including the observance of human rights, from long-distance education to telemedicine, to environmental management and monitoring. The potential to reduce poverty, foster sustainable development, empower people, build capacities and skills, facilitate new and transparent governance mechanisms (e-governance) and reinforce popular participation and informed decision-making at all levels is enormous.

       The impact of the new technology on employment is already visible in terms of changes in the international division of labour. Some developing countries have a comparative advantage because they have the requisite skills at lower cost. This can be a source of significant potential for employment creation in developing countries. In terms of the structure and functioning of the domestic labour markets, developed countries are confronted with a shortage of skilled labour and are, therefore, trying to

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attract qualified labour from developing countries. This has a dual effect on developing countries: the flow of remittances is increasing, but they lose qualified workers for their national development. Both these types of changes reflect increased international competition in products between countries and intense economic competition at the micro level among firms in relation to costs and productivity. Recently, qualified ICT professionals from developing countries, such as India, have been increasingly prominent in Internet-based businesses in developed countries, including the United States. In some instances, a reverse flow of knowledge and financial resources back to countries of origin has been facilitated by successful expatriates.

       For most countries, wide-ranging ICT applications include improved agricultural and manufacturing productivity, health and education, generation of employment, industry, trade and finance, empowerment of people, environmental protection, prevention and management of disasters and information- and knowledge-sharing in development experience.

       A major area of Internet activity worldwide has been in higher education where Internet-based courses have been rapidly introduced in the last few years. In primary and secondary education, school networking initiatives, or schoolnets, improve access to the Internet. Applications in non-formal education have also been developing, but at a much more basic level. The new models and initiatives follow a continuum between traditional models and the totally virtual ones. They imply profound changes in educational models and systems, but they must also overcome fear and resistance to change.

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       One of the most visible benefits of ICT is its capacities to improve health-care delivery, research and training. ICT affords health professionals and researchers rapid exchange of state-of-the-art information, distance learning, as well as access to urgent advice and diagnostic assistance. Health care is an information-intensive sector. Therefore, it is no wonder that most national ongoing and planned health-care reforms include ICT of different types, degrees of sophistication and depth of use. With data and information being the dominant, basic commodity in health, the health sector has become, secondary only to the business sector, a major user and promoter of tools and methodologies to harvest knowledge through intensive use of ICT.

       ICT have numerous proven applications in agriculture – from crop forecasting to providing market information. Recently, an important application has emerged: using ICT to provide timely and accurate food security analysis data for both relief and development interventions. In many developing countries, in particular in Africa, many agriculture and rural development problems have been related to the weak information base for policies, weak institutions and lack of well-trained human resources. ICT can help bridge these gaps. A critical factor in meeting the challenge of food security in Africa is human resource development through knowledge-building and information sharing, and ICT are central to this process.

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Problems and Challenges in Harnessing the Potential of ICT

       It is clear from the above that ICT have vast potential for development. However, unless there is affordable and equitable access and connectivity, prospects for partaking in the knowledge economy are dim. The cost of going on-line varies considerably: from $18/month in Sweden to $78/month in Argentina and Internet access charges for one hour of $10.50 in Chad, where the average annual GDP per person is $187, making it unaffordable to most people. Without requisite human and institutional capacities, the framework and skills required for the use of ICT and the Internet may be lacking, making usage all but impossible. Without linguistically and culturally diverse digital content and material, a large portion of people, especially in developing countries, may be unable to understand and digest what is being offered.

       The benefits from a new technology in terms of wealth generation and job creation are skewed and unevenly distributed between countries as well as within countries, mainly because of differential access to knowledge and to information and communication technologies. This reality has given rise to manifestations of a phenomenon variously referred to as the “digital divide” or “information poverty”, which is characterized by the difference between those countries, regions, sectors and socioeconomic groups which have the resources and capabilities to access knowledge through information technologies, and those lacking such access. This phenomenon brings into focus the growing inequalities and incomes and inequitable patterns of development.

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       One important impediment in the fuller realization of the potential of ICT for development is the continued inadequacy of women’s involvement and participation. According to available data, women account for 38 percent of users in the United States, 25 percent in Brazil, 17 percent in Japan and South Africa, 16 percent in the Russian Federation, 7 percent in China and 4 percent in the Arab states. This situation needs to be urgently corrected, in particular, since women are probably one of the groups that would benefit most from the empowerment that could be brought about by ICT.

       There are also other factors which hinder the promotion of ICT in some countries: apart from the well-known factors of lack of infrastructure and resources, concerns about security and privacy, cultural intrusion and loss of revenues to e-commerce, as well as language barriers and cost factors, tend to inhibit the spread of ICT and its universal usage.

       To connect the majority of the poor, especially the rural and peri-urban poor, in developing countries will require innovative approaches, including a paradigm shift from individual connectivity, which has been prevalent in developed countries, to community connectivity. In this regard, the development of integrated multi-purpose community information centres, such as “Telecentres” will be crucial. Such centres will enable users to have access to information and knowledge at minimal cost. Deliberate efforts should also be undertaken to ensure access to women, youth and the disabled in order to maximize the potential of telecentres as vehicles for democratizing access to the information society for the urban low-income and rural communities.

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       ICT will advance development only if related efforts and programmes are integrated in a coherent national development strategy. National Governments should therefore be the primary actors, in concert with the private sector and civil society, in the pursuit of access for all to information technology for development. They need to enunciate their own national vision, galvanize the necessary political will, at the highest level, devise a national strategic framework, establish national priorities and provide a conducive environment for the rapid diffusion, development and use of information technology. Countries also need to make choices that enhance national comparative advantage. As the experience of developing and transition economies that have been successful in designing and implementing a national ICT development strategy has shown, such an endeavour requires strong political commitment and determination at the highest level and the mobilization of the necessary resources.

       Institutional capacities to collect, organize, store and share information and knowledge through the networked technology infrastructure are as critically important as human capacities. Governments of developing countries and countries in transition, as a first step, should pursue the application of information technology in public institutions, such as schools, hospitals and clinics, libraries and government departments and agencies. The concept of “public service sector consortia” has been used in some countries as a catalytic factor in empowering the public sector, pooling of resources and making progress on a broad front in cooperation with the private sector.

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Women and ICT

       The world is in the midst of a knowledge revolution, complemented by opening up of entirely new vistas in communication technologies. Recent developments in the fields of information and communication technology are indeed revolutionary in nature. Hundreds of million of dollars are being spent on Information and Communication Technologies, reflecting a powerful global belief in the transformatory nature of these technologies. By definition, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are a diverse set of technological tools and resources to create, disseminate, store, bring value-addition and manage information. Interestingly, ICT when used as a broad tool for amalgamating local knowledge incubated by the communities with information existing in remote databases and in public domain heralds the formation of a new class of society the knowledge society. Knowledge thereby becomes the fundamental resource for all economic and developmental activities in the knowledge society of which women form an equal part. The process of synthesis of knowledge possessed across communities, by men an d women, with the global pool of knowledge with the scope for further enrichment lays the genesis for knowledge networking.

Women and knowledge

       The one resource that liberates women from poverty and empowers them is knowledge. Possessing knowledge is empowering while the lack of knowledge is debilitating. The World Bank organized forum called Voices of Poor which got feedback from 60,000 people in 60 countries concluded that people wanted access to knowledge and opportunities instead of charity to fight conditions leading to poverty. And knowledge is not a scarce resource – it is infinitely

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expansible and proliferates with its use, the capacity to acquire and generate knowledge in all its forms, including the recovery and upgrading of traditional knowledge, is perhaps the most important factor in the improvement of human condition”. (Bezanson and Sagasti, 1995:5-6). Knowledge and its widespread dissemination in an absorbable and usable form is, therefore the quintessence to initiate the change process for women’s development.

       This distance is reflected in the levels of empowerment and equality of women in comparison to men, and has enormously contributed to the slow pace of development in south. It is now a well understood fact that without progress towards the empowerment of women, any attempt to raise the quality of lives of people in developing countries would be incomplete. There is an increasing amount of evidence which substantiates that societies that discriminate by gender pay a high price in terms of their ability to develop and to reduce poverty.

       The issues of gender equality, equity and empowerment of women become even significant as women have a strategic role in incubation and transfer of critical knowledge which often forms the blue print of survival for communities to adapt and minimize the risks in the adverse of circumstances. Women because of their biological and social roles, are generally more rooted than men in the confines of their locality. They are, therefore, more aware than men of the social, economic and environmental needs of their own communities (Mitter, 2000). Women have been the traditional incubators and transfer media of knowledge relating to seed preservation and storage, food processing, indigenous health practices etc. Such forms of knowledge are often contextual, rooted in experience and experiments but are non-codified.

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Therefore, it is essential that any knowledge sharing mechanism recognizes the value of knowledge possessed by women and provides space for value-addition and the amalgamation of women as knowledge in the global knowledge pool. This condition forms the basis of evolution of women as equal contributors and end-users of knowledge in a knowledge society.

Engendering Knowledge Networks

       There is an underlying need to shape the knowledge networks to deliver benefits to all segments of the population so that they are responsive to the poorest and the most disadvantaged communities which include the women folk.

       Surveys of women innovators in Kenya and the Philippines show that women’s inventions tend to have direct application to improving family and community well-being and/or increasing efficiency. ICT does not include only the internet but a gamut of other tools which could be used individually or in convergence with each other to catalyze the process of change in a manner which reduces the skew in knowledge distribution between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, rural and urban, and men and women. The convergence technologies include community radios, internet ratio, local area networks, tele-centres, information kiosks, mobile phones, WAP applications, etc. They often enhance the reach and penetration of the ICT (IDRC 1997).

       For example, knowledge networking for influencing decision-making strengthens the democratic processes and brings recognition to the power of women community as it enables the decision-making mechanism to perpetuate right below to involve women at the grassroots level without being

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confined to the bureaucratic straitjacketed approach of the more formal institutions. Engendering knowledge networks, therefore, bridges the knowledge gap existing between men and women, build up awareness among the women communities, and encourages their informed and active participation in areas which influence them.

Empowerment Sphere

       We could broadly classify the spaces in which women stand to gain under the spheres of Empowerment and Governance. Empowerment of women in the context of knowledge societies is understood as building the ability and skills of women to gain insight of actions and issues in the external environment which influence them, and to build their capacity to get involved and voice their concerns in these external processes, and make informed decisions. It entails building up of capacities of women to overcome social and institutional barriers, and strengthening their participation in the economic and political processes for an overall improvement in their quality of lives.

       Knowledge networking offers the unprecedented potential to empower every woman as each woman is a potential recipient and incubator of knowledge in a truly networked world. A range of ICT – models have been used to support the empowerment of women all around the world. In Africa, groups such as the Africa Women’s Network of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) have conducted training workshop to support electronic networking among women’s group. In Uganda, the Forum for Women in Democracy uses the internet and email to research issues for the country’s female MPs, and Women’s net is a similar initiative in South Africa. (World Bank, 2000) Knowledge networking catalyses the

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process of women’s empowerment as it is based on the mechanism of knowledge sharing and provides avenues for women to come together, build up consensus on issues that affect them and act strategically to maximize benefits through different approaches elucidated in the subsequent paragraphs.

       Access to information can be seen as a central issue concerning empowerment of women. Women in developing countries, however, have been traditionally excluded from the external information sphere both deliberately and because of factors which inherently work to their disadvantage such as little freedom of movement, low education-levels etc. Under such circumstances, it is not uncommon for women to be little aware of information relating to market economy and local governance processes, which impedes their process of empowerment.

       ICT, however, opens up a direct window for women to the outside world. Information now flows to them without distortion or any form of censoring, and they have access to same information as their male counterpart. This leads to broadening of perspectives, building up of greater understanding of their current situation and causes of poverty, and initiation of interactive processes for information exchange. For example, when a devastating cyclone hit the South-Eastern shores of India in 1999 killing hundreds of people, the women folks were unable to comprehend through internet that the scale of disaster was much higher because of the negligence and ill-preparedness of the State Governments disaster mitigation agency whereas a cyclone of similar intensity in US had led to the loss of only nine lives.

       ICT makes the role of time and distance less significant in organizing business and production related

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activities. As a result of the technology, a high proportion of jobs outsourced by big firms are going to women. Women, therefore, can work from anywhere and at anytime and raise extra income to become more financially independent and empowered. New areas of employment such as tele-marketing, medical transcription, etc., have also opened up tremendous job opportunities for women. These jobs are definitely under-paid and fall at the lower segment of ICT jobs, nevertheless, they are opening up avenues where none existed before.

       Significantly, the process of initiating knowledge networking by itself creates jobs in developing countries. Knowledge networking requires skilled and trained knowledge workers who can perform specific tasks of understanding, compiling, analyzing, searching, providing value-addition and disseminating information etc., and a number of women get employed in such jobs.

       One of the most powerful application of ICT in the domain of knowledge networking is electronic commerce. Electronic commerce refers not just to selling of products and services online but to the promotion of a new class of ICT – savvy women entrepreneurs in both rural and urban areas. Women over time have learnt the advantages offered by ICT and its potential in opening up windows to the outside world. This has put them in a greater control over the activities performed by them – laying the foundation for entrepreneurship development. At the same time, the experience of developed countries shows that indiscriminate investment in ICT can lead to large-scale waste. For developing transition economy countries to benefit from the lessons of this experience and to avoid misinvestment and capture benefits, appropriate institutional arrangements need to be made.

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Conclusion

       Information and Communication Technologies are central to the creation of a global knowledge based economy and society. ICT can play an important part in accelerating growth, eradicating poverty, and promoting sustainable development in developing and transition economy countries and in facilitating their beneficial integration into the global economy.

       In knowledge based economy, the nature of work, or range of occupation and the skills requirements also change. It may increase productivity, enhance quality of life, reduce prices, create new economic activities and new employment opportunities and growth of wealth.

       One important impediment in the fuller realization of the potential to ICT for development is the continued inadequacy of women’s involvement and participation. ICT however opens up a direct window for women to the outside world. Information now flows to them without distortion or any form of censoring and they have access to same information as their male counterpart. This leads to broadening of perspective building up of greater understanding of their current situation and causes of poverty. Expectations are high when it comes to ICT opportunities for women in developing countries, including new forms of learning, education, health services, livelihood options and governance mechanisms. However, it needs to be realized that information and communication technologies by itself cannot be an answer and elixir to all problems facing women development but it does bring new information resources and can open new communication channels for the marginalized communities. It offers new approaches for bridging the information gaps through interaction and dialogue, building

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new alliances, inter-personal networks, and cross-sectoral links between organizations. The benefits include increased efficiency in allocation of resources for development work, reduced communication costs and global access to information and human resources.

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