Abstract:

The discourse about Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has been branded as a fashionable, powerful and widespread strategy to align the emerging technologies to the global socio-economic imperatives and dynamics. In his address to the Growth and Development Summit, President Mbeki argues that “In crafting the Bill of Rights, the followers of our democracy knew too well that political rights without a socio-economic foundation would be unsustainable.

They knew that a political settlement without an enduring contract among the role-players for growth and development would in time collapse on a foundation of sand”.

The emergence and proliferation of ICTs lends itself into the category of the rights and challenges that the President alluded to. With globalization increasingly impacting on business and other sectors of the economy, the scope for competition is no longer limited by national boundaries. The emergence of the ICTs has significantly influenced the global discourse on social and economic development in many ways. In the first instance, the need for developing countries to optimize use of ICTs for sustainable socio-economic development has become a permanent agenda across the globe.

Secondly, given that women constitute a larger percentage of the global population, it is mandatory that they (women) should be empowered in ICTs so that they can play a decisive role in the creation of sustainable world economies. This paper discusses the challenges impeding women empowerment in ICTs. It concludes by identifying plausible strategies and approaches that can be pursued to fast-track capacity building and optimization of women participation in ICTs initiatives