The revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) has vast implications for the developing world, but what tangible benefits has it bought, when issues of social inclusion and exclusion, particularly in the developing world, remain at large? In addition, the gender digital divide is growing in the developing world, particularly in Africa - so what does ICT mean to African women? African Women and ICTs explores the ways in which women in Africa utilize ICTs to facilitate their empowerment; whether through the mobile village phone business, through internet use, or through new career and ICT employment opportunities. Based on the outcome of a extensive research project, this timely books features chapters based on original primary field research undertaken by academics and activists who have investigated situations within their own communities and countries. The discussion includes such issues as the notion of ICTs for empowerment and as agents of change, ICTs in the fight against gender-based violence, and how ICTs could be used to re-conceptualize public and private spaces. ICT policy is currently being made and implemented all over Africa, but the authors argue that this is happening mostly in the absence of clear knowledge about the ways gender inequality and ICTs are impacting each other and that by becoming alert to a gender dimension in ICT developments at an early stage of the information revolution, we may be able to prevent greater scaled undesirable effects in the future.

Winner of the Aidoo-Snyder Prize. This groundbreaking book by two leading scholars offers a complete historical picture of women and their work in Uganda, tracing developments from pre-colonial times to the present and into the future. Setting women's economic activities into a broader political, social, and cultural context, it provides the first general account of women's experiences amidst the changes that shaped the country. Prior to the 1970s, relatively few Ugandan women broughtin their own income, despite producing most of the food and craftwork that was taken to local markets. Educational expansion in the 1950s and 1960s were years of gradual evolution for women and their work, with many employed as lower level teachers or nurses. Since the 1970s, there have been a number of dramatic changes which have led to many more women earning their own income: high mortality of men from conflict and HIV/AIDS, increased migration of women into urban areas, the collapse of the state-controlled economy and the emergence of a magendo economy, the development of a free market economy within a system of global capitalism, deepening poverty through Structural Adjustment Programmes, and the expansion of women's roles in many areas. This book traces the origins of the current situation, highlighting the challenges working women now face, and recommending strategies that will improve their circumstances in the future. North America: Ohio U Press; Uganda: Fountain Publishers

Poverty and Shame: Global Experiences explores Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's contention that shame lies at the absolutist core of poverty. It draws on a wealth of empirical evidence to demonstrate how paying greater attention to the psychological and social consequences of poverty provides new insights into how poverty is perpetuated. Based on research in seven very different global contexts, it reveals how, irrespective of whether people live above or below a designated poverty line, in cultures as diverse as rural India, Uganda and Pakistan, urban/suburban UK, China, Norway and South Korea, the ability to participate in society as a full and recognised citizen is largely contingent on having the material resources deemed normal for that society. When such means are not available, the common response is to feel inadequate and to save face by withdrawing to varying degrees from society. Such a response further limits opportunities to exit poverty and arguably results in perpetuating its cycle. Yet society in turn plays a fundamental role in what we term the poverty-shame nexus, by persistently evaluating others against dominant norms and expectations and prioritising certain explanations of poverty over others. Hence shame in relation to poverty is co-constructed, a dynamic interaction of internally felt inadequacies and externally inflicted judgements. This book, together with the companion volume The Shame of Poverty by Robert Walker invites readers to question conventional understandings about poverty and its impact. In so doing, the volumes provide a foundation for a more satisfactory global conversation about the phenomenon of poverty than that which has hitherto been frustrated by disagreement about whether poverty is best conceptualised in absolute or relative terms.