The use of digital media technology to promote female youth voices and socio-economic empowerment in rural areas of Thohoyandou, South Africa

Abstract

For several years digital media played a significant role in bridging the information gap between the information have and have-nots in developing societies. This article focuses on how previously marginalised female youth in rural South Africa use digital media to voice societal issues and the extent to which these technologies breaks down barriers for women empowerment. Quantitative method was employed and data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire disseminated to selected 100 females from rural areas of Thohoyandou-South Africa. The data were analysed using SPSS version 9 and the results were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study established that majority of female youth used digital media to voice social concern which attributed to socio-economic development. The paper maintains that a constant access to digital media by female youth is indicative of the great potential for empowering them through harnessing digital media.

Keywords: Digital media; Female youth; Socio-economic empowerment; Poverty eradication