Internet for Empowerment: Access and Usages by the Women in Nepal

Effective communication has the prospective to enhance women's quality of life, protect them in the fragile environment and create a knowledge based society that is more responsive to change and development issues. It can lead to the empowerment of women, enabling them to take control of their lives and participate as equals with men in development activities. The internet has made access to information and communication quick and easy with information. From entertainment to banking to access to resources related to education and health available at their fingertips. Internet services have a potential agent in the empowerment of women. This study found that exposer to the internet can help in gaining knowledge and change attitudes, which indirectly helps women gain freedom on all fronts. However, internet services have a very limited penetration among women in Nepal thereby limiting its impact on women empowerment.

the injustice and discrimination that pose threats to their advancement (Choudhury, 2009). Women's access to internet training not only provided them the ability to close the gender digital gap but also to enhance their role and presence in society (Shirazi, 2012). Similarly, a study conducted in Iran presented that the internet 'provide the women with the tools to effectively and efficiently participate in the broader public discourses,' however, 'these tools and services are not available in rural and less developed regions preventing female populations of these areas to participate in that public discourse' (ibid, 2012). A similar study in Bangladesh concluded that: ... it may not be wrong to state that the internet is slowly awakening their inner selves as well as motivating and showing them the path toward achieving some form of empowerment in their lives. I would like to be optimistic here and believe that the internet has the potential to show them ways to be empowered. But it will all depend on women themselves if they want to use the knowledge and techniques acquired through the use of the internet (Choudhury, 2009).

Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of the study is to investigate access to internet services for women and their use habits in Nepal. This study also aimed to identify women's access to internet services, to examine the causes of using internet services, to find out the frequency of women on internet services, and to explore women's peak using time and prime using hours of internet services.

Methodology of the Study
The study has adopted descriptive as well as the analytical research design. The study area was identified using the multistage sampling method and the purposive sampling technique was adopted for selecting the sample. The research included women of different ecological regions, different development regions, and on the basis of rural and urban residence of Nepal. The nature of the data is qualitative as well as quantitative and both primary and secondary sources were used for data collection. Schedule interviews, observation, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and case studies were used to collect primary data and information for this study.

Access
In order to analyze the habits of using the internet or access of the respondents were asked whether they are using the internet or not. Their responses are presented in the table given below.

Source-Field Survey 2019
The above table shows that only 18.5% of the respondents are using the internet. The majority of the respondents of 81.5% are non-users of the internet. Respondents who have access to the internet were asked about the technology used to the internet. Their responses were presented in the table below. The above data reveals 11.0% of respondents reported mobile (GPRS, EDGE, 3G) technology using for access internet. Only a few respondents, 6.5% reported that they are using wireless/ broadband/ ADSL/fiber optics for access internet service, and only 0.5% of respondents reported WiMAX technology for access the internet service.

Habits of Using Internet Service
To analysis, the women's media habit on using the internet regarding causes, frequency, pick listening time, and prime listening hours hereunder.

Causes
To examine the reasons for using internet service respondents, their answers are shown in the table below, why you are using internet services.

Source-Field Survey 2019
The above table shows that 8.5% of respondents using the internet to access information (news/ knowledge). 4.0% of respondents reported that they are using the internet for connection with family/ friends (Facebook/skype). Few 3.0% of respondents reported that for all of the above, and only 2.0% of respondents reported for entertainment (audio/video/games).
Respondents were further asked which site you often visit on the internet. Most of the respondents reported that they are using google and Facebook, and few respondents responses that they are using email and skype. Frequency It was asked how much you use internet service to evaluate the level of use of internet respondents. In the table below, their answers are shown.

Source-Field Survey 2019
The above table gives the frequency of using internet services. The above table shows that 9.0% of respondents reported that they are using the internet frequently. 8.0% of respondents reported that they are using internet services regularly, and only 1.5% of respondents reported that they are using the internet rarely.

Peak Using Time
The respondents were asked to indicate what time of day are using the internet. Information solicited in this regard covers, the time when most respondents open the internet (peak using time). Respondent's responses are given below in the table.

Source-Field Survey 2019
The above table shows that 8.5% of respondents using the internet in the afternoon. 6.5% of respondents reported that they are using the internet in the morning. 4.0% of respondents reported that they are using the internet in the evening, and only 3.0% reported that they are using the internet at night.

Prime Using Hours
Respondents were asked, the time they prefer to use the internet (prime time). Detailed respondent's responses are shown in the following graph.

Figure: Distribution of the respondents by prime using hours of internet.
The above graph shows that the most preferred (prime using hours) time to use the internet was afternoon 2-3 PM. Only a few respondents are preferred using the internet during the morning and night.

Findings of the Study
 Only 18.5% of the respondents were using the internet. A large majority of the respondents (81.5%) were non-users.  11% of respondents used mobile (GPRS, EDGE, 3G) technology for accessing the internet. A few respondents, 6.5%, used wireless/ broadband/ ADSL/fiber optics for accessing the internet services, and only 0.5% of respondents accessed the internet using WiMAX technology.  8.5% of respondents used the internet to access information (news or knowledge), 4% of respondents accessed the internet for connecting with family/friends. A few, 3% of respondents, used the internet for all types of activities, and 2% of respondents used it for entertainment (audio/video/games).  9% of respondents frequently used the internet. 8% of respondents used the internet services regularly, and 1.5% of respondents rarely used the internet.  8.5% of respondents used the internet in the afternoon, 6.5% of respondents used the Internet in the morning, 4% of respondents used the Internet in the evening and 3% used the internet in the night.  The most preferred time to use the internet was 2 to 3 PM.

Conclusion
Internet services have made access to any information and communication very fast and easy. Internet services have a potential agent in the empowerment of women. The expose to the internet can help in gaining knowledge and change attitudes which, indirectly helps women gain freedom at all fronts. It influences the social, political, and economic dimensions of women. Though, internet services have a very limited penetration among women in Nepal.