“CIAO! WOMEN” addresses the specific lifelong learning needs of adult women in relation to information and communication technology (ICT).
The increasing need to facilitate the access of both women who have a job and of those who are outside the labour market (due to their age, or because they choose it, for family reasons), to educational pathways which are tailored to their specific requirements, respond to their needs, and which do not necessarily target employability, may require innovative approaches. On the other hand, the information revolution cannot continue or worsen gender inequality nor can pre-existing gender inequalities be reflected in the differential abilities of men and women to grasp technologies.
In fact, the many surveys on the relationship between women and technology conducted in Western and non-Western countries over the last decade, as reflected in scientific literature and papers issued by international organizations, have shown the need to break the unfounded stereotype of a distance between women and technology, especially in adult literacy schemes. (Ocde, Statistique Canada Littératie, Economie et Société, Résultats de la première Enquete internationale sul l’alphabétisation des adultes, Paris, Ocde, 1995). The Glossary Of Adult Learning In Europe, prepared by the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), and the UNESCO Institute for
Education (UIE), Hamburg, 1999, with the support of the European Commission, Socrates Programme, Adult Education, does not contain terms like "gender", "women", "gender discrimination".
Unfortunately, our experience tells us that this is not due to the fact that no specific aspects are to be considered when speaking of Learning and Women, but it is due to the lack of consciousness of these specific aspects, often negative for women. Not taking into consideration a problem does not mean that the problem does not exist. Moreover, concepts like wearable computing, connections between people and artefacts in the co-construction of identity, multiple and differentiated identities, penetration of information
technology into everyday objects and settings etc. are all current topics for the so called "experts", but are still far from the classic education scheme planning for adults, and women in particular. While relatively few technology applications are designed to achieve gender goals, ICT may indirectly have profound effects on gender roles, gender equality, and the empowerment of women.
Considering the foregoing, we asked ourselves the following questions: in preparing educational schemes, be they formal or informal, for adults, and for women in particular, do we really understand the needs and interests of those who are still distant from the world of the Internet and of computers in general? Do we use a terminology that is understood by recipients? Is there a risk of presenting the courses and educational activities in a way which may be appropriate for those who are conversant in certain technologies,
but excludes those who are not familiar with them and do not even have that basic familiarity acquired by people grown up in an age when speaking of computers is part of everyday life? But, above all, is there a risk that stereotypes about the relationship between women and their use of technology may bias those who plan educational programmes?
We deem important to conduct in-dept surveys, using appropriate tools and resources, investigating how adults, especially women, who do not have any specific knowledge of the "ICT world" perceive it. We wish to reach those adult women who do not have any specific ICT skills in order to get an understanding of their idea of ICT and subsequently prepare support material. That material may be used by those people who intend to organize educational/informational activities which respond to the real interests of the target recipients and, above all, are presented and structured in a manner which is appropriate to their language and knowledges.
Other considerations derived from a survey made by some of the partners of CIAO!Women, which clearly showed the positive attitude, great interest and openness towards ICT, in particular the Internet, but also indicated that what women said seemed to duplicate the information circulated by the media which is inevitably generic and confused, regardless of whether the conveyed image is positive or negative. The impact mass media can have, in promoting a realistic and conscious use of the Internet, is considerable. Is it possible to define gender-sensitive “good practices”? A review of magazines targeting a female audience can certainly provide a number of clues in that respect. This is a stimulus to think and prepare LLL activities which include, rather than exclude, the female target in this type of information. This can be done not through the classic computer literacy course, but through educational methods and contents which promote the transition from computer illiteracy to an approach directly based on what the computer and its use will represent in the near future. It has been demonstrated how women’s computerfobia was linked, initially, to the lack of products that were of interest to them. MIT Sociology Professor Sherry Turkle in her book "Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet" very clearly described how women became ICT users when they stopped viewing the computer as a programming tool and began seeing ICT as a system enabling communication and connection. The closing date of the project is 15/12/2007 |
