Online and In-Between: A Study of Women’s Access to and Adoption of the Internet in the Urban Slums of Chandigarh and Panchkula

Abstract

This dissertation study has hoped to expand on the understanding of the digital divide by breaking away from the dichotomous understanding of the divide’s spatial presence. Over the last many years, the digital divide is a phenomenon that has existed between the rural and the urban. However, there are several regions that exist within these rural and urban spaces where the divide has manifested in different ways than what we currently understand. With this underlying idea, the present research has explored the access to, perception and adoption of the internet in the urban-slums, a space that amalgamates features of both the rural and the urban. With blurred lines, the study has attempted to understand what women think of the internet in a situation where they are exposed to the urban experience as they carry their rural identity with them and try to place themselves in the city. Based on several interviews spanning four slum localities in Chandigarh and Panchkula, it is revealed that women’s perception of the internet varies based on their age and occupation and what they think will change should they make it a part of their lives. Women have been trying to understand the benefits that come with being online to decide whether it is a useful and beneficial investment of their time, energy and money. This dissertation has also tried to understand how current advocacy efforts for internet adoption or digital skilling for women across the globe and in India fail to meet the expectations of women in the urban slums and what are the possible pathways to reconciliate this dissonance.

Keywords: internet, women, digital divide, urban-slums, empowerment, identity, access, smartphones, mobile, ICT