Brief history about gender+ racial equity in tech over the past years and include some key dates that relate to this topic 

 

Answer:

In the issue, of gender equality in reference to gender development and ICT by Amy O'Donnell & Caroline Sweetman (2018) Introduction: Gender, development and ICTs, Gender & Development, 26:2, 217-229, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2018.1489952

as well. 

That discuss the perspective of women's rights and gender justice that focuses on ICTs. Wherein the digital revolutiontakes part in transforming on how our lives, works and relates with one another. As with the growth and uptake of information and communications technologies (ICTs) that have the potential in improving access to information and services or enable collective action for social justice. There is also the risk this revolution bring that lead to inequalities in terms of who benefits and whose voice is heard. 

So this study helps to fully understand both the current impact of ICTs on gender relations and women's rights and their potential to advance gender equality as well, that it is important also to look at what having a phone or going online can actually do for the user. And how empowering are these experiences to us. In reference to

Faheed Hussain and Sara N. Amin's article, that first mentioned above, shows the ICTs' role in supporting urban Afghan women's 'effective' agency (Kabeer 2005, 15) that helping them to cope in daily life, fulfilling their roles in family and society. Yet while appreciating the importance of recognising effective agency as a worthwhile goal in its own right their study shows also how essential it is to aim beyond supporting women to be effective in their everyday lives. To play a part in empowering women, ICTs need to enable them to exercise 'transformative' agency and to challenge gender inequality. In this Afghan case-study case highlights a need for much more focus on how women use ICTs, and how men prevent them exercising transformative agency at household level, controlling and policing women's use of ICTs. Faheed Hussain and Sara N. Amin argue that a focus on access, not feminist empowerment, means international development policymakers and practitioners will ignore this critical distinction.

In assessing the empowerment potential of digital technology it also requires looking at the kinds of content and opportunities for communication it offers. For ICTs to be as empowering as they possibly can be, more online content needs to challenge gender biases and fill in the gaps in history, offering an alternative account, or 'herstory'. As to reference to Gender & Development that first published an issue on Technology in 1999, a moment at which the potential of ICTs to transform the lives of women was already clear to feminists writing in the issue.

As we recognize the world of digital that is heavily male-dominated. For ecample the careers in tech design are also dominated by men, as are roles in the new technologies , which are generally designed by professionals employed by powerful companies. These roles are disproportionately filled by men rather than women. Frok the 2012 figures of UK, which showed women holding 17 per cent of jobs in tech (Kiss 2012, no page number), and 25 per cent in the US (Ashcraft et al. 2016, 2).  In which the result is that content, applications and tools are developed in the main by men. Technologies that could potentially benefit everyone regardless of gender roles and relations are often more likely to be tailored to men's interests and needs, and accessed by male users. And technologies that might potentially play a significant role in improving the lives of women and girls specifically, enabling them to perform activities seen as 'women's work' more efficiently, for example low-cost domestic labour-saving technologies, are often slower to be developed than those associated with men's roles.

Like the fact that there are low numbers of women in world of tech. Because for some, science and technology is still seen by many as a male field. The masculinised working culture in these sectors makes them challenging environments for workers who do not 'fit in'. Beyond gender bias, tech industries began in the global North and they employ highly educated workforces for the creative roles.

It argues also for a beyond the digital divide and access, on the biases favouring elites that characterise and moderate online content and the 'knowledge' available on the web. It seeks to promote and support opportunities for marginalised individuals and groups to create content spreading their own knowledge which may challenge conventional wisdom created by power-holders - and challenge the racism, sexism, and post-colonial power inequalities that form part of the landscape of the online environment and the resources or content available.

Therefore in the suppot of this study reference, we need to cruciall recognise how this digital content affects our attitudes, beliefs, and ideas. Some digital tools offer potential to network and organise, to challenge the structural inequalities that constrain human beings, perpetuate inequalities, and prevent just and sustainable human development.

References:

Introduction: Gender, development and ICTs https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13552074.2018.1489952