Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the perspectives and experiences of urban street traders in Uganda to establish the extent to which mobile ICTs are able to expand the network capabilities of poor women, in particular.

Paper long abstract:

ICT-enabled networks present opportunities to expand and foster engagement with wider social, economic and governance networks, in the context of broader development aims. Networks in themselves represent flows of information, socio-economic interactions and engagement with ICT-mediated services and applications. But, do they present the same opportunities and benefits to men and women? Are poor women able to effectively harness the possibilities? What factors inhibit and enable effective engagement with ICT networks? What are the costs of engagement and risks of exclusion?

The paper engages with these questions in relation to urban streets traders. Based on research conducted from 2006-2012 in Uganda, it draws on their experiences of, and perspectives on, what they are able to be and do in relation to mobile ICTs. It argues that particular contextual factors rooted in individual circumstances and choices, multi-dimensional forms of poverty, historical, socio-political and economic conditions shape outcomes on gender relations in complex and contradictory ways. The dynamic and fluid processes through which gendered inequalities compromise capabilities and functionings enabled by ICT networks are highlighted and the ways in which women realise beneficial outcomes are considered.