Abstract
This study examines the present status of women in the context of Electronic governance initiatives in Bangladesh. As a developing country, Bangladesh is stepping toward achieving E-governance where there is always a debate of the digital divide. Hence, this study tries to explore the challenges faced by women for access to and control over resources specifically the Information and Communication Technology tools or devices. It also aims to unveil the potentials of women's access and usage of such resources. This study employs survey data collected from study areas. Both urban and rural areas are chosen to get an overall scenario of women's status. This study is conducted in an inductive approach and findings are analyzed in a qualitative approach. The result shows that the status of women in access and usage of ICT varies in urban and rural areas due to some common constraints. The major findings of the study suggest that Information and Communication Technology has some potential for women empowerment which is explained as a case study. In this era of E-governance, most women are still facing gendered challenges such as lack of control over resources, awareness, education, and cybersecurity.
 JEL Classification Codes: H41, J70, O33, O38.
Highlights
The recently emerged concept of E-Governance is one of the basic trends of the modern world
Electronic Governance popularly known as E-governance means the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange of information, communication and transactions, integration of various standalone systems and services between government-to-customer(G2C), government-to-business(G2B), government-to-government(G2G) as well as back-office processes and interactions within the entire government framework (Ndou, 2004; Taifur, 2006)
Among 200 respondents 15.34% opines that ICT tools are time and cost consuming, 10% says that they are not familiar with the usage of ICTs, 11.33% avoid public spaces, 8.66% assumes ICT tools as complicated, and 7.33% of women think that there is no proper environment of access and usage
Summary
The recently emerged concept of E-Governance is one of the basic trends of the modern world. Bangladesh with some initiatives taken already as well as other developing countries is rapidly stepping towards achieving E-governance. Electronic Governance popularly known as E-governance means the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange of information, communication and transactions, integration of various standalone systems and services between government-to-customer(G2C), government-to-business(G2B), government-to-government(G2G) as well as back-office processes and interactions within the entire government framework (Ndou, 2004; Taifur, 2006). E-governance is a whole process where the government cannot progress without the customer's involvement. To promote E-Governance, Government has taken several initiatives. The development of ICTs and Digitalization is one of the initiatives. Some literature shows that constraints like the digital divide and gendered usage of https://www.cribfb.com/journal/index.php/BJMSR
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