The lower status, lost dignity, and denied rights of women across the rural India comes out with a
clarion call to promote sustainable progress in their lives. Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) has emerged as one of a dynamic tool in their lives. It has been successful in
connecting the rural and remote population to the wider world. These tools are initiated for gender
equality and women’s sustainable progress. Its success largely depends on the availability and
accessibility for the rural women. The main objectives of the study was to present the successful
elements of ICT initiatives in the significant process of sustainable development, to trace out the
barriers and bottlenecks of ICT initiatives in rural India and to identify the areas of further
strengthening the effectiveness of ICT initiatives in sustainable progress of rural women. Of the
four sample ICT initiatives, two of the initiatives were situated in southern India i.e. Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu and the other two were in the northern part of India i.e. Gujarat and Rajasthan. The
study also identified the requirement for basic education, technical skills, tailored training for women
and above all engendering of ICT policies.
Women are one of the wonderful creations and co-creators of the universe. However, the history of
human civilization testified to the changing status of women all through the history. In 19th and
20th centuries, reform movements led by great social reformers provided better avenues to women’s
legal status. Nevertheless, independent India continued to witness upheavals against women
oppression despite its Constitution providing equality.