ICTs and its social meanings : women in the margins of Thailand (December 2010)

Abstract

This paper seeks to surface the social implications of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for marginalized women in Thailand-Burma border as brought about by globalization and technological change. Many of the debates surrounding ICTs have been centered on technologies as drivers of growth and transformation of economies as information economy and knowledge society. While it has helped the economies of most developed countries, the urban-rural divide in sharing the benefits derived from ICTs in most developing countries such as Thailand persist. A notable implication is ICTs’ influence in the lives of marginalized women migrant workers and refugees in Thailand in the context of community empowerment from a repressive military regime of Burma. The enabling environment of ICTs in the border created significant difference in their survival as freedom of information, communication and mobility had been largely repressed inside their own country. This paper argues that opportunities for women to access and use ICTs may be seen along several perspectives ranging from binding family ties, social networking and expanding relations to a broader perspective as learning arena, venue for advocacy and amplifying women’s voices and sites for cultural expression and entertainment. However, while use of ICTs allow for processes of information and communication that were previously impossible to attain to a group of women, a large number of women is still excluded in the process.