To Örebro University

India has witnessed a massive transformation in the development and use of information technology in the last decade. The way technology is experienced however, varies; and social class, gender, and age are prominent parameters that frame its use. The present study focuses the spaces of Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC)[1] – a not for profit organization which works towards ensuring nutrition, health, and safety of migrant families and their children who spend their lives on construction sites in the mega-city of Mumbai. MMC operates day care centres on 25-30 construction sites where trained early childhood care givers, teachers and attached professional staff, including volunteers, deliver a large range of services including qualified crèches, preschools and educational facilities for children between birth and 14 years of age. Currently, 40% women workers at these centers are made up of members of construction workers’ communities. While these women execute a range of tasks creatively and under very challenging conditions, limited exposure and competencies in the use of English restricts their use of digital technologies, including web media. It is these women who constitute the first generation of technology users that this study focuses upon.   

The study explores the access and reported experiences of women first generation digital users. It aims to understand barriers and facilitators for access to new technologies among these women, what significance these have for them, the role/s these play in shaping their sense of self and role of gender and age in technology use. The main research questions include: How does access to and engagement with new communication technologies look like in the lives of first generation women users in mega-city hubs in present times of flux? How do issues of access shape women first generation users lives? In what arenas do women from the middle and lower economic strata in a mega-city context in India have access to new communication technologies? What do their life trajectories look like and what, if anything, can we learn about development from this type of collaborative research?

The following empirical materials have been specifically used in this study. In-depth case studies with adult women first generation new technology users based upon a series of audio-recorded conversations and written daily records maintained by the women, video-documentation of Sakhi empowerment monthly meetings, minutes of the Sakhi meetings, and MMC annual reports across two decades, 2000-2014.

This paper empirically supports often sighted association between women’s entry into workforce and their empowerment. Nuances of the gender role expectations in use of technology and empowerment of women are focused. Empowerment of women emerges as a complex process wherein women transgress some aspects of traditional gender roles while continuing to be framed by others. LanDpost is concerned with intersections of language, gender, and media in an increasingly digital world. The present study illuminates the role digital media and language play in the access to and use of new technologies, including web media and how access to these shapes adult, first generation users lives.

[1]http://www.mumbaimobilecreches.org/aboutus.htm