Ruth is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Women and Gender Studies. Ruth holds a PhD in Gender Studies, an MA in Women Studies and an Hons Degree in Library and Information Science of Makerere University. Research interests include gender and ICT, integration and uptake of technology in education, health, agriculture, and mainstreaming gender.
Women in Uganda are increasingly joining the liberalized but aggressive private sector as entrepreneurs. For successful enterprise development, timely information on markets, registration and taxation among others that can equally be accessed through ICT are very critical. Unfortunately, given that men and women are socialized differently to fit in the gender social structure, women entrepreneurs do not have same access to information as men. This study seeks to establish how female entrepreneurs could therefore use ICT to seek for, access and use information through the available ICTs and e-information services for their business development. Thus, a study is proposed to: 1). Examine how gender as a social structure influences ICT meaning construction among women entrepreneurs 2). Explore what ICTs women entrepreneurs are taking on as new ways of accessing required information for enterprise development, and 3). Examine the ways through which women entrepreneurs are navigating gender dynamics to transform their ICT access and use experiences for enhanced access to information for enterprise development.
