Public Demand Aggregation as a means of Bridging the ICT Gender Divide

More men use ICTs than women globally. This is not necessarily because there are more men than women globally. Rather, it is because of social, economic and cultural challenges work against the adoption of ICTs by women. In this chapter, public demand aggregation of ICT content is promoted as a means of bridging the Broadband/ICT gender gap. This chapter argues; the promotion of a common and useful e-government application (e-government applications are numerous, which one are you referring to here?) – Statement too vague in a country will enable equal adoption of ICTs by both men and Women. The argument for content is inspired by the examples proposed in this chapter as well as a synthesis of results from the Ghana Wireless Project and a research visit to Jaribu and Kerege in Tanzania. This chapter concludes, that the adoption of a common e-government initiative will lead more women to identify other uses of ICTs in other areas of their lives, spurring sustainable adoption of ICTs.