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Technology as the Key to Women’s Empowerment: A Scoping Review
April Mackey
University of Saskatchewan
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7069-5843
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
View the published version at BMC Women's Health.
Background: With women’s empowerment and information and communication technologies (ICTs) being the subject of global discussions for many decades, there is a need for a clearer and deeper understanding of existing gender gaps. Despite these prolonged discussions, there remains limited in-depth understanding of the use of ICTs for women’s empowerment. ICTs having made communication and networking a possibility between and among people on a global scale, a digital divide has emerged.
Research Objectives: To determine how the concept of empowerment is defined, utilized, and measured in research studies; explore existing evidence regarding the use of ICTs as interventions towards achieving women’s empowerment; and explore the gaps in knowledge and research on this topic from an individual, community, and global perspectives.
Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley methodology. The search identified papers from ten databases, including Scopus, Embase, ABI Inform, Soc Index, Sociological Abstracts, Gender Studies, Springer Link, PsychInfo, Science Direct, and Academic Search Complete over the period of 2012-2018. Search criteria included articles that focused on women’s empowerment and utilized technologies as interventions. Out of a total of 4481 articles that were initially identified, 51were included in the final review.
Results: Technology played a variety of roles in supporting the development of women’s capacities and resources. Results revealed the use of ICT interventions in the following areas: outreach, education, lifestyle, prevention, health challenges, perceptions of barriers. However, despite the positive use of technology to support women in their daily lives, there was a lack of consensus regarding the definition and use of the term empowerment. The concept of empowerment was also inconsistently and poorly measured among individual studies which led to issues in measuring whether or not empowerment was achieved.
Conclusion: This scoping review provides a comprehensive review of current and emerging efforts to use ICTs to empower women, as well as highlighting opportunities for collaborative efforts between researchers, program implementers and policy makers to address the persistent gender disparities with respect to ICTs.
Keywords
Information and Communications Technology; Impact; Women Empowerment; Scoping review
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Reviewer #1 agreed
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On 14 Jul, 2020
Review #3 received
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Reviewer #3 agreed
On 02 Jul, 2020
Review #2 received
Received 25 Jan, 2020
Review #1 received
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Reviewer #2 agreed
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On 02 Jan, 2020
Editor assigned
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Reviewers invited
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This preprint is under consideration at BMC Women's Health. A preprint is a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Research article
Technology as the Key to Women’s Empowerment: A Scoping Review
April Mackey
University of Saskatchewan
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7069-5843
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
Peer Review Timeline
CURRENT STATUS: Published
Version 3
Posted 14 Jan, 2021
Published
On 23 Feb, 2021
No community comments so far
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 27 Jan, 2021
Review #1 received
Received 22 Jan, 2021
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 06 Jan, 2021
Editor assigned
On 31 Dec, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 31 Dec, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 31 Dec, 2020
Editor invited
On 31 Dec, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 05 Nov, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 08 Sep, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 05 Sep, 2020
Editor assigned
On 02 Sep, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 02 Sep, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 02 Sep, 2020
Editor invited
On 01 Sep, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 01 Sep, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 14 Jul, 2020
Review #3 received
Received 06 Jul, 2020
Reviewer #3 agreed
On 02 Jul, 2020
Review #2 received
Received 25 Jan, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 09 Jan, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 05 Jan, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 02 Jan, 2020
Editor assigned
On 11 Dec, 2019
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 11 Dec, 2019
Submission checks complete
On 11 Dec, 2019
Editor invited
On 11 Dec, 2019
First submitted
On 04 Dec, 2019
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
View the published version at BMC Women's Health.
Background: With women’s empowerment and information and communication technologies (ICTs) being the subject of global discussions for many decades, there is a need for a clearer and deeper understanding of existing gender gaps. Despite these prolonged discussions, there remains limited in-depth understanding of the use of ICTs for women’s empowerment. ICTs having made communication and networking a possibility between and among people on a global scale, a digital divide has emerged.
Research Objectives: To determine how the concept of empowerment is defined, utilized, and measured in research studies; explore existing evidence regarding the use of ICTs as interventions towards achieving women’s empowerment; and explore the gaps in knowledge and research on this topic from an individual, community, and global perspectives.
Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley methodology. The search identified papers from ten databases, including Scopus, Embase, ABI Inform, Soc Index, Sociological Abstracts, Gender Studies, Springer Link, PsychInfo, Science Direct, and Academic Search Complete over the period of 2012-2018. Search criteria included articles that focused on women’s empowerment and utilized technologies as interventions. Out of a total of 4481 articles that were initially identified, 51were included in the final review.
Results: Technology played a variety of roles in supporting the development of women’s capacities and resources. Results revealed the use of ICT interventions in the following areas: outreach, education, lifestyle, prevention, health challenges, perceptions of barriers. However, despite the positive use of technology to support women in their daily lives, there was a lack of consensus regarding the definition and use of the term empowerment. The concept of empowerment was also inconsistently and poorly measured among individual studies which led to issues in measuring whether or not empowerment was achieved.
Conclusion: This scoping review provides a comprehensive review of current and emerging efforts to use ICTs to empower women, as well as highlighting opportunities for collaborative efforts between researchers, program implementers and policy makers to address the persistent gender disparities with respect to ICTs.
Figure 1
Figure 2