Connecting young women in Malawi to ICTs - Strengthening SRH information as a pathway to empowerment?

Sammanfattning: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasingly influential in social, economic and political spheres and have also been recognised for their potential within health promotion, especially when targeting youth and adolescents. Despite the potential of these new technologies, there is a growing understanding of how prevailing inequalities between men and women and socio-cultural norms create barriers for women in accessing ICTs and forms a “gender digital divide”. This qualitative case study used individual interviews and focus group discussion to investigate how projects use ICTs to address youth sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Malawi. Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Kabeer’s concept of empowerment were applied to understand how socio-cultural norms influence young women’s access to and use of ICTs and to explore how young women reflect upon their own empowerment in relation to ICT interventions for SRH promotion. The findings showed that socio-cultural norms underpin gendered inequalities in Malawi and translate into structures that impede women’s use of ICTs to gain information about SRH. It further indicated that using ICTs to access SRH information can further their empowerment, both because of the increased knowledge and because of the skills and capabilities acquired when operating the devices.