Mozzeenet

It is worth noting that even minimal access to basic technology can bring benefits to poor and disadvantaged communities. A recent CNN article Wheels of hope bring internet to villagers describes a project providing high-speed, wireless internet access to rural Indian villages via a mobile bicycle-rickshaw service.

The infothela or info-cart, painted like a traditional temple carriage, is light enough to traverse pot-holed roads between villages and includes special provisions like cushioning to protect equipment. The service includes a teacher who provides training on computer skills.

The article describes how such initiatives can contribute to improving education, health and agriculture through knowledge, access to information and skills. The last part of the article discusses how computer access can challenge traditional roles and expectations eg a young girl tells how she now wants to pursue a career rather than simply follow the path her parents have mapped out for her - to leave school, learn how to cook and clean and marry by 18 years old.

It is positive that restrictive gender roles and expectations are being challenged in this way but I want to raise a question about the article’s failure to question the validity of rejecting traditional values and customs outright. The final paragraphs tell how the girl has not informed her parents of her plans to travel and get a job:

Sharma said she has not disclosed her plans to her parents lest they stop her from attending computer classes, “But I know what I will do.”

This implies that Sharma will defy her parents, perhaps even run away from home to the city. In Cambodia, many young women are lured away from their homes and families to so-called jobs and find themselves enslaved in brothels at the risk of contracting HIV, being raped or abuse. If they manage to escape, they are shunned by family and friends. In a communal society, they are lost.

In this case, education should be extended beyond Sharma to her family and society, developing processes for the integration and acceptance of old and new ways as well as educating on the importance of maintaining social networks and family ties. Technology alone is not enough. We must also be responsible for how it is used.