Her voice in the making: ICTs and the empowerment of migrant women in Pearl River Delta, China

Various studies have shown that the use of social media via mobile devices is ubiquitous among the new generation of migrant workers in China. However, for young female migrant workers, aged between 18 and 35 years, despite the significant increase in their access to information technology, very few web-based contents are targeted at them or address the issues they face. In terms of social media participation, it is still quite difficult for them to express their views online. While Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be largely used to overcome the gender digital divide among less privileged populations, discussion on such practices and their impact has been inconclusive so far. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the Pearl River Delta in China, this paper reveals that government-implemented and market-driven internal migration presents a tangible opportunity to tackle longstanding challenges of the gender digital divide amongst female workers. This paper also outlines the possibilities for innovative and strategic use of ICTs to technologically empower women migrant workers in China.

研究显示中国新生代打工者通过移动设备使用社交媒体已十分普遍。然而,尽管18岁至35岁的年轻女性打工者对信息技术的使用显著上升,网上适合她们或针对她们所面临的问题的内容还是非常欠缺。她们透过社交媒体发表意见仍然相当困难。虽然信息和通信技术(ICTs)常被用来解决弱势群体当中的性别数字鸿沟问题, 对相关做法及其成效至今一直没有定论。本文以在中国珠三角开展的田野调查为基础揭示政府和市场引导的内部移民为应对女工所面临的性别数字鸿沟这一长期挑战提供了实在的机遇。本文还概述了以创新战略性手法利用信息通信技术协助女工赋权的可能性。