Feb. 22, 2008 - telecenters & cyber cafes: barriers for women

I love revisiting online discussions I participated in years ago, to see how things have changed... or haven't at all. A discussion on an online social network lead me today to revisit a topic I'm still quite concerned with: Back in August 2003, I had the pleasure of co-hosting an online discussion at TechSoup on Gender and the Digital Divide. It was a discussion of the barriers that keep women and girls in particular away from computer and Internet-related classes and community technology centers. These barriers are even more pronounced in developing countries, but certainly still exist in the USA, even today, almost five years after this TechSoup discussion. Have a look at the archived TechSoup discussion -- I think the points are all still valid and need to be kept in mind to ensure a telecenter or cybercafe is accessible for everyone. And, yet, I rarely see this topic discussed...