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Women and mobile money:
A tool for economic empowerment?
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An article from the journal Science late last year is causing waves with the finding that access and use of M-PESA, a mobile money service in Kenya, has lifted an astouding 2% of households out of poverty. The gender link here is that households led by women experienced the most profound effects of this phenomenon - propelled largely in part by their new found ability to be more financially resilient and to save money by using the service. What's more is that mobile money also appeared to help women move out of agricultural employment and into entrepreneurial or retail employment pursuits. The catalysts for these changes, according to the study authors, is that women have appropriated M-PESA in manners which help them enhance the efficiency of how much time they spend working and how much money they save. While these results are encouraging, it would be interesting to see what studies from other locations show when M-PESA impact is assessed in similar manners. Nonetheless, these findings are encouraging for those who wish to explore ways to contribute to women's empowerment.
Read the article in full here.
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Understanding the mobile money
gender gap in Rwanda
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GSMA Connected Women recently did some qualitative research with women in Rwanda to understand why the gender gap in mobile money usage exists, and what can be done to overcome it. In line with other research studies, they found that female mobile money customers tended to be more price-sensitive, less confident and have less trust in mobile money services than men.
Read more.
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Women in STEM as celebrities?
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This powerful video from General Electric imagines a world where women working in STEM are treated like celebrities, celebrating their achievements. Watch it here. The ad is well-timed given the release of Hidden Figures, which also made celebrities of the genius, black female mathematicians who helped put the first US astronaut in orbit.
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Mythbusting needed for girls' math and science performance in Africa
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In this article, Nox Makunga, an Associate Professor in Medicinal Plant Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa notes that the representation of girs and women in STEM is particularly difficult for black women in her country - and is made worse given the lingering effects of apartheid. Yet she suggests ways to address this challenge, including connecting more young people with people in STEM professions.
Read her other ideas here.
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A framework of ethical practice for
digital research with girls
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The use of digital technology, particularly cell phones, is growing as a medium for data collection in social research. However, there remains concern about our implementing appropriate ethical practice when we are conducting digital research with people, including girls, who are considered vulnerable. In this article for Girlhood Studies, the Gender & Mobile newsletter's own Ronda Zelezny-Green discusses some ethical considerations that emerged during an action research project undertaken with a community of secondary school girls in Nairobi, Kenya. She also proposes a framework of ethical practice for digital research with girls—particularly those who are infrequently given a voice in the literature on girlhood studies.
Read more.
(rondazg3@gmail.com for access to full text.)
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Women’s ICT access and use in Myanmar: some new data
LIRNEAsia recently published a new study in Myanmar, examining how ICT access and use has changed for 7,500 households since 2015. For women, the gender gap is starting to close: 52% of women in Myanmar own a mobile compared to 72% of men, but women still borrow or share mobiles much more than men.
Read the report here.
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Who can afford internet access in 2017?
We are excited to share our takeaways from the latest A4AI annual Affordability Report for 2017, what we consider to be a definitive source on issues related to ICT access. Perhaps the most startling - and worst - takeaway that we had from the report was that women (and by extension girls) in developing contexts continue to be excluded from the potential benefits of ICT access because they remain offline.
Read more.
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Four women leading the drive for open data in Africa
This new blog post from the Open Data Institute highlights some of the open data initiatives in African countries, and profiles four women leading them. This includes Nkechi Okwuone from Nigeria, one of the youngest Open Data Managers in Africa, and responsible for managing the Edo State Government Open Data portal.
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