Rural Women’s Access to ICTs in ‘Digital Bangladesh’: Rationale and Challenges Hasan Sadik1, Associate Professor 1Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Email id: s.hasan@du.ac.bd ABSTRACT Despite the Constitutional guarantee of equal rights and participation in all spheres of life, women in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas, are considered as part of underserved and unreached segments of the society. To address this challenge of delivering services to all citizens, Bangladesh embraces the policy of establishing e-governance under the theme of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by building ICT infrastructures across the country. In this context, this paper explores how rural women in Bangladesh are utilizing ICT tools, i.e. Internet and the e-service delivery network. For that, the paper examines the rationale of assessing ICT tools along with encountered infrastructural challenges. The paper, examining the qualitative responses of participants, concludes that the theme of Digital Bangladesh is playing a critical role in assisting many rural women to address some age-old social challenges, which, in fact, playing a critical role in promoting social development. Top Keywords: Bangladesh, Digital Bangladesh, E-governance, E-service, Gender in technology, ICT, Rural women. Top |