Monday, December 2, 2002		Feature

IT opening new vistas for women

E-COMMERCE is a potential gold mine for women in the developing countries, but to seize those opportunities they will have to overcome lack of education, infrastructure and finance, says a new UNCTAD report.

The growing business-to-consumer or retail sector in the developing countries offers many possibilities for small businesses with access to information technology and women can cash on it.

In India, ‘IndiaShop’—an e-marketplace—has eliminated middlemen in the selling of saris. This business-to-business marketplace also provides solutions for companies and portals.

Further, freelance women journalists in India and Malaysia are also delivering their services online. At Grameen Phone in Bangladesh, women buy cellphones and provide mobile payphone services in their shops or local markets, making the most out of the IT revolution, says the UNCTAD E-commerce and Development Report, 2002.

Similarly, a housewives’ network in Peru, Tortasperu, that bakes confectioneries and sells them via the internet has generated lucrative work for women taking care of children at home while also providing the country with much-needed foreign exchange.

Such opportunities are particularly significant for the women in Asia, where IT-enabled or business process outsourcing of back-office operations have grown exponentially.

The ability to transfer data online is leading companies to outsource business operations to distant and cheaper locations. Developing countries that can offer cheap and English-literate workforce are the most targeted sites and that workforce is predominantly female. UNI