Digital Gender Gap for Housewives

Anna Puji Lestari,Sunarto Sunarto

doi:10.26623/themessenger.v10i1.729

Abstract

The development of communication technology through the internet brings a digital gap for women, especially for housewives who tend to be associated with domestic work. This study examines the use of internet and web newspaper (suaramerdeka.com) access by housewives. This study breaks the patriarchal ideology and the digital gap in family communication in the terms of access to information via internet. The theory used in this study is Gender Structure and Liberal Feminist Theories. This study is a descriptive qualitative research with critical phenomenology design. The results of study suggest that housewives are still excluded from access to information via internet due to unequal power in the use of communication technology in families. This happens because of the pattern of family communication that embraces patriarchy culture believing that housewives only need to take care of domestic issues and do not require internet access.

Highlights

The technological revolution in the field of rapid information and communication has provided great opportunity for new media to disseminate information to everyone without any limits
This study examines the use of internet and web newspaper accessed by housewives
Internet access barriers for women indicate that internet access for women needs to be the priority in the development of digital revolution in the future

Summary

Introduction

The technological revolution in the field of rapid information and communication has provided great opportunity for new media to disseminate information to everyone without any limits. The development occurs along with the increasing ease of internet access. Internet has become a necessity for people of digital age. The number of internet users continues to increase every year along with the expansion of the internet reaches in every region in Indonesia. The increasing population of the society increases the number of internet users every time.

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion