Rethinking gender and technology within intersections in the global South

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines mobile technology use in the Global South through the lens of intersectional understandings of power. It explores the integration of mobile phones in the lives of women from Gishu County in Kenya, and the meanings and symbolism attributed to this technology. The book deals with the material-feminist concept of social reproduction to understand the deepening precarity of the urban poor in Tanzania and their gendered responses to it. It explains the concept of young men’s financial inclusion linked to the proliferation of mobile money in Uganda. The book discusses the marginality of elderly women and their mobile phone relationships, and addresses the marginality of young rural women and how mobile phones open up spaces for negotiating agency. It focuses on the marginality of HIV-positive women in Ghana and their reliance on mobile communication for counselling and other health information.