Understanding information and communication opportunities and challenges for rural women through the sustainable livelihood framework

The inclusion of marginalized women remains a challenging issue in ICT-based development interventions. Rural poor, particularly women in Bangladesh, may not realize information-related benefits from digital technologies. This is due to multifaceted challenges such as poverty, inequality, inadequate infrastructure, lack of information and education, and restraining social factors like patriarchy. Using the SLF [5, 10], smartphone applications’ impact on rural Bangladeshi women farmers’ lives was examined in this study. We found that smartphone access acted as a vehicle to improving information access and communication opportunities, reducing rural women’s vulnerabilities, thus improving livelihoods, facilitating better access to agricultural extension services and local markets, and promoting women’s agency [22]. Using the SLF lens, our insight offers designing insight to understand barriers to information and communication opportunities for rural women in developing contexts.