Digital Inclusion and Women’s Health and Well-Being in Rural Communities

Abstract

This review explores the role of digital inclusion in women’s health and well-being in rural communities. This involves reviewing existing research that focuses on the information experiences of women, specifically those who were digitally excluded or limited users of the Internet, who have benefitted from the support of digital inclusion initiatives and technology. There is a global gender digital divide in which more women than men often lack access to information and digital skills, particularly in rural areas. Digital inclusion initiatives are attempting to close this divide and to enable women to make informed decisions about their health and well-being and their families. The review also identifies that digital inclusion is a complex situation of enquiry; there is limited, fragmented research in which the concepts of information literacy and digital inclusion have been brought together; and significant tensions and contradictions exist within digital inclusion practice. The review also highlights the opportunity for further research and theory development.

Conceptualizing the Social Inclusion Potential of Esport to Support Future Sport for Development Agendas: A Capabilities Perspective

“…We position esports as a digital mechanism that, for example, could be utilized within an educational context as an inclusive offering open to all. This could be used as a tool to address the global digital gender divide (Huyer & Sikoska, 2003;Wagg et al, 2019) by offering a mechanism to enhance the digital literacy capabilities of women and girls.…”

Exploring the Contested Notion of Social Inclusion and Gender Inclusivity within eSport Spaces

“…When examining virtual spaces, it is critical to consider the, often concealed, gender dynamics to understand what influence they may have on access, engagement, and participation. Within Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs; e.g., e-commerce, computer games, emails, and the Internet), there is a known global digital gender divide, with women having lower engagement with ICTs compared to their male counterparts (Huyer & Sikoska, 2003;Wagg, Cooke, & Simeonova, 2019). Gender specific social and structural barriers, such as education and cultural practices, influence access and have led to this disparity.…”

A policy-level perspective to tackle rural digital inclusion

“…Furthermore, scholars have identified a lack of literature which explores digital inclusion through a theoretical lens (Wagg et al , 2020; Al-Muwil et al , 2019), which could be argued is somewhat surprising considering the complexity of digital inclusion. The authors of this paper argue the use of theory is required to guide digital inclusion research and recommend the use of activity theory (AT).…”

“…Scholars argue that digital inclusion policies continue to struggle to address significant inequality issues, due to the incorporation of narrowly conceived, short-term, technologycentric solutions (Mari€ en and Prodnik, 2014;D ıaz Andrade and Techatassanasoontorn, 2021). Indeed, research that does exist appears fragmented (Wagg et al, 2020) and predominantly focused on the recipients of digital inclusion initiatives at individual level (L opez et al, 2018), with little understanding from a policy-level perspective or policy-level stakeholders. Mervyn et al (2014) state that the limited scope and robustness of empirical research in the digital inclusion realm, "restricts policymakers' ability to devise and implement social strategies and activities" (p. 1,100).…”

“…As such, policy-level stakeholders possess a variety of experiences, from the narrow involvement of stakeholders from government organisations to the involvement of stakeholders in third sector organisations. Furthermore, scholars have identified a lack of literature which explores digital inclusion through a theoretical lens (Wagg et al, 2020;Al-Muwil et al, 2019), which could be argued is somewhat surprising considering the complexity of digital inclusion. The authors of this paper argue the use of theory is required to guide digital inclusion research and recommend the use of activity theory (AT).…”