Females in general have been the subjects of discrimination for many
decades. Differences in male and female interaction with the world at
socio-economical, political and cultural levels have been studied
globally for many years and continue to be relevant even today.
It is also well documented that females in South Africa are exposed to
greater magnitudes of gender-based challenges across all areas of their
lives. Harsh Apartheid policies entrenched racial and social inequalities
impacting on citizens in SA. Although directed towards specific racial
groups, there is no doubt that Apartheid impacted across the South
African society and justified a negative culture of dominance of one
group over the other; whether racial or gender-based the institutional
endorsement of this practice made lives unbearable even more so for
females. In addition, cultural practices have often favoured males and
systematically perpetuated their dominance over females. It could be
that this deeply entrenched discriminatory pattern against women has
transgressed to impact adoption and usage of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT’s).
This report seeks to investigate whether any barriers exist that deprive
females to fully adopt and use ICT’s. Gender as a tool used to measure
female and male differences influences this research report in order to
understand adoption and usage patterns of ICT’s by females in South
Africa. Further, little literature exists that investigate gender ICT
Adoption and Usage at both household and individual levels in South
Africa.