I always believe the issue of gender balance or better still women empowerment is either inching towards a cliché or already there. This was until I noticed the total absence of self-worth in the words of a sexually abused school girl.

"We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it [democracy] is participation," said African American pianist Wynton Marsalis. Let’s just say these words reflect what I’m about to explain in the context of feminism and the internet.

Did you know that 76% of Ghanaians are not on the internet and 70 out of this 76 % are women?

The national ICT policy recognises ICTs as a tool for fighting gender inequality. Nonetheless, less than 20% of women in Ghana have access to the internet.

In this article, I’d like to talk about women participation online and if I may generalise, in Ghana. I’ll draw some inspiration from the PEPPERDEM AND SUGARDEM movements and establish my own conclusions about cultural limitations on women’s participation online using interviews conducted with women and criticisms/comments from a Facebook message I posted about this subject.

Quite frankly the idea took a while to sink into my skull and it did confuse a few smart friends with whom I discussed. I was utterly shocked at the extremely limited amount of information available on this subject in this age of information. With those I found, the writers’ struggle to map out the delicate balance among perception, conjecture and factual statement about women or their participation online were very tangible. Women representation online is perhaps one of the most ignored subjects,

A baseline study conducted by the Media Foundation for West Africa on Women’s Rights Online in Ghana found that access to and use of the internet among women is highly dependent on the type of mobile device used and on level of education. Connecting with friends and family, entertainment and education emerged as the main reasons why the female respondents used the internet.

Unreliable yet expensive internet or data services; inadequate technical know-how on internet use and online insecurity were some of the challenges the women reported were hampering their access and use of the internet.

I have listened to 31 women and summarised their thoughts on how they use the internet and what factors limit their active participation in critical discussions. Since a majority of them are social media users, I will limit the discussion as such. From their responses, I will attempt to address [based on their suggestions] what changes could improve the phenomenon

There is arguably a point in choice but my realisation from the submissions of these 31 ladies indicate that there are cultural, economic and technological limitations to how active women can be online. This is backed by research and I’ll explain.

CULTURAL LIMITATIONS

Each other's keeper

In the typical Ghanaian society, individualism has yet to find the kind of establishment it enjoys in western countries. Anybody’s business seems very much, everybody’s business.

People are trained to ‘care’ about others; sometimes at the risk of being nosy and annoyingly so. In the use of social media, it is only natural that this sense of being ‘each other’s keeper’ breeds hesitation to react or contribute to discussions on social media especially when the matter is critical or political.

This was in response to my statement about limitations on women participation online.

This same cultural antecedent either psychologically restrains people from opening up with their opinions on matters under discussion or that people just ‘won’t mind their businesses as one of the interviewees said. In addition, comments on some posts can be very mean; sometimes. They call it ‘savage’ comments.

"I do feel limited somehow because everybody is connected; my father and my family members are on social media, my pastors are on social media, my friends…so you feel limited as to what you say or how you sculpt the message". I’m sure this comment resonates with many who will read this piece up to this point; they could be different sets of people but the fact that someone else-we might not want is reading, is a reality most of us deal with.

PHOTOS BEYOND WORDS

The ladies I spoke to, are frequent users of Instagram to ‘post and see pictures’ and kill boredom. Only two of them used social media to follow current affairs. Even they,  did not indicate their active participation in any critical debate.

In my interaction with these ladies (only two of whom were not formally educated), they don’t mind flaunting pretty looks. Besides photos in many cases attract much more pleasant reactions as compared with their thoughts on critical issues. Personally, my posts with pictures have attracted much more attention than posts without photos. The easy way tops all other options it seems.

Dealing with these cultural limitations to women’s participation online is worse in societies where roles and perception of what a woman can, should or should not do are upheld religiously. A 2016 report by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana and commissioned by the British Council proves that even though there are some changes in the societal assigned roles and perception about women, stereotypical and patriarchal traits still strongly exist in Ghana in terms of women representation generally.

EMERGENCE OF PEPPERDEM MINISTRIES  

To be honest, recent social media trends have proven that women are bolder; speaking their minds and taking other people on. Many have used the Pepperdem ministries as a typical example. One of the critics of my facebook post wrote the following; 

 It is no secret however that the Pepperdem Ministries did not get a lot of love; evidence abound on social media! As a matter of fact, many people neither understood what they stood for nor took time to understand who they are. Perhaps they would have a better understanding of their perspectives on social issues. There was a ‘mass anti-Pepperdem’ and people scrambled on the bandwagon of harsh criticism and insults. This could shut many strong and intelligent people in, for good!

Even though there is limited empirical evidence to prove women’s participation online, those I found, validate the statement that ‘female[s] as participants can be under-represented’. Again, ‘anecdotal evidence suggests that women withdraw from unfriendly online communities’ – Bogdan et al, 2012.

WHAT COULD CHANGE?

Seeing as these cultural limitations prevent the biggest half of Ghana’s population from active online participation, society and educational institutions should be minded that they owe female children and young people in this country, a responsibility of empowering them to understand the importance of divergent views; knowing well enough that not everyone will agree with your thoughts but shutting up is lazy and cowardice as much as shutting others is bullying. 

The immense knowledge inside women can be tapped to enrich national discourse, conversation, women, both young and old need to be encouraged and educated on their rights to speak and the necessity to accommodate criticisms as a necessary part of intellectual discourse

AVAILABILITY LIMITATIONS 

I have male colleagues who bring packed lunch made by their wives ‘with love’ to work. Almost all the time they agree with how difficult it must be for me if I had to add that to my schedule which is similar to theirs. To think of the same person, having to return home to take care of the house before the day finally ends in a marital bed. I am personally not a Pepperdem advocate but this is no doubt a reality for women the world over. For some of the women I spoke to, they feel limited in their participation on social media because there is just too much to do which takes away all their time.

PEPPERDEM VRS SUGARDEM

First off, I think many people jumped on the bandwagon without even taking time to understand what the Pepperdem stood for; in the same vein, they jumped on to Sugardem because what they preached appealed more to their cultural convictions and norms,  and did not create as much dissonance in their cognition. For me, they both point to the same thing; women everywhere have or take on extra responsibilities; from taking care of themselves in addition to the equal work their counterparts do, to taking care of others. Whether or not they enjoy doing it, is basically a matter of choice. Throw this in the social media space and I’ll argue that there is a great deal of limitations as women (and some men) are often torn between avoiding dissonance and harsh criticism that comes with causing or contributing to same. Bottom line, and as confirmed by my respondents, women find themselves constrained with time and that affects their active participation online. 

ECONOMIC LIMITATIONS

Paying for data appears to be a big deal for majority of my respondents. I asked them to choose between data and device and all they point to the cost of data as a key limitation to their active participation online. One of them said ‘data is always a problem’.

Let me support this with a research by The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).in its affordability report launched in 2017 here in Ghana. They found that   76% of Ghanaians are not on the internet and of that number 70% are women. Deputy Director of the Alliance, Eleanor Sarpong say 5 key hurdles identified include the cost of internet service (including handsets) and digital literacy and that a lot of work needs to be done to bring people online.

The report also highlights how 4% of average monthly income is spent on 1Gb of data.

WHAT COULD CHANGE

There are various suggestions on how to deal with this part of the limitation. First, is for the media to deliberately create awareness and encourage people to demand that the declaration of the communication ministry that Ghana will adopt the 1-4-2 Affordability target which means ensuring that no one spends more than 2% of their average monthly income on 1 Gb of data becomes a reality.

My respondents suggest that telecommunication operators are compelled to reduce their rates for internet bundles and partner with government to provide free wifi at as many vantage points as possible. At the moment, even Ghana’s airport cannot boast of a free wifi.

TECHNOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS

There is no doubt about the immense contribution to national and individual well-being when people are exposed to ICT in the information age; it comes with its own challenges but it’s equally arguable that the positives outweigh the negatives.

Research commissioned by the European Commission in 2012 notes a ‘Common observation that computer-mediated communication, in general, is a male-dominant technology which privileges men’

In remote areas, for example, men are more likely to own and/or control gadgets including the mobile phones and computers.

WHAT COULD CHANGE

Ministries of communication and Gender, Children and Social Protection- both headed by women, could team up with handset manufacturers to distribute handset for free or at very affordable prices in remote areas. This will not only connect people but create jobs and contribute to industrialisation. In a country where most schools in rural areas teach ICT with drawings on a blackboard, the Ministry of Education ought to sit up in its implementation of  ICT education and design more scholarship packages that promote active female participation  Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

MY FULL STOP

References

- Shakespeare lives in Ghana, Roles, Representation and Perception of Women in Contemporary Ghanaian Society (2016). Accessed fromhttps://www.britishcouncil.org.gh/sites/default/files/shakespeare_lives_women_in_contemporary_ghana_final_report_4_april.pdf  24^th February 2018
- Gender, Representation and Online Participation: A Quantitative Study. Bogdan et al, 2012. Accessed from https://bvasiles.github.io/papers/iwc13.pdf 24^thFebruary 2018

- The Alliance for Affordable Internet, A4A1

***You can contact the writer via email gifty.gaa@gmail.com