Prevalence of Gender Discrepancy in Internet Use in Nigeria: Implication for Women Empowerment

Abstract

Very often some restrictions are imposed on who, what, why and how
people engage in some professions, skills and activities thus, denying some individuals opportunities to be empowered towards self actualization and maximal contribution to the societal development. One important agent of empowerment is information, provided with dispatch through the Internet. In essence, the research sought to determine the prevalence of gender discrepancies in Internet use with a view to indicating its implication to women empowerment. In the survey, cluster and proportionate sampling techniques were employed to select five of the eighteen Internet centers in the three local government areas in Imo State, Nigeria. Three hundred self designed questionnaires were distributed to the sampled users. Obtained data were collated and analysed using frequency tables, percentages and graphs The result shows that female are almost at par with the male in the use of Internet though the female consist mainly of youths, students, low educational qualification (secondary education& diploma) except those with PhD. Female visit the Internet less frequently but stay longer hours browsing . Contrary to the former, opinion was that female should use the Internet less than male due to the inherent and expressed technological bias against them, traditionally impose domestic pressure and some cultural barriers. If such norm is accepted, the female will be denied the major source of real time information needed for empowerment