By Sonia Jorge for APC

BOSTON, 20 September 2010

Illiteracy, lack of electricity and poor infrastructure are just some of the challenges that are preventing rural women from benefiting from ICTs. But these gender-related challenges are often overlooked by policy makers, and policies that are developed that don’t consider the specific context of rural men and women are more likely to fail, as they will not meet the needs of everyone equally. This is why the inclusion of gender must be considered in the policy process. What exactly can local and national policy makers do in order to address some of these issues? Policy analyst Sonia Jorge gives some insights. Photo by ARDA

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