Engendering Rural Information Systems in Indonesia

Abstract

There is still a long road ahead before all Indonesian's can benefit from the full potential of ICT. That road seems even longer to rural women. Despite some improvements in access and the rapid deployment of lower cost wireless technologies, not much has changed in rural areas of Indonesia. Infrastructure in rural areas is limited and existing services are expensive and practically outside of rural women's reach. Women still face enormous barriers and access to communications and information relevant to their realities is very limited. This report provides a gender perspective on the status of ICT in rural areas of Indonesia and presents the main findings of our gender analysis. The discussion is illustrated by case studies (see Appendices on p.42) developed by the core team responsible for the preparation of this report and based on the field research.