A Study on the Usage of Internet by Working Women of Vadodara City for Performing Their Household Responsibilities
©2016
Textbook
137 Pages
Summary
The internet is a system of enormous technical and social complexity. It comprises a gigantic but almost invisible universe that includes thousands of networks, millions of computers, and billions of users around the world. The internet has widened its reach among people by taking them away from just using it for emails and chat rooms to giving them more alternative media tools to use from. It has given power to the masses to speak about their rights, share their views on particular topics or events, and showcase their abilities to the world. It also provides an opportunity to learn an endless amount of different things, viz. different languages, cuisines, arts, crafts, and much more. The internet can be whatever we make of it. We can shape and form it. But most importantly, we can use it to connect people, communities, and countries around the world.
In 2014, India was the third-largest online market with more than 198 million internet users, ranked only behind China and the United States and declaring itself as a market not to be ignored on the global stage. Furthermore, men dominated internet usage with 61 percent, while only 39 percent of women used it. The average daily online usage in India amounted 5.1 hours. There are 345 million users in India, counted in January 2016.
With the growing needs of humans, it has become a challenge for women to fulfill all their responsibilities and to perform all their roles at the same time. Therefore, their dependency on family members, helpers/maids, friends, neighbors, and the media has increased. Media here includes print (i.e. newspaper, magazine, tabloids), electronic (i.e. television, radio), and new media (i.e. internet and mobile technology). This study evaluates how the internet can help working women to perform their household responsibilities.
In 2014, India was the third-largest online market with more than 198 million internet users, ranked only behind China and the United States and declaring itself as a market not to be ignored on the global stage. Furthermore, men dominated internet usage with 61 percent, while only 39 percent of women used it. The average daily online usage in India amounted 5.1 hours. There are 345 million users in India, counted in January 2016.
With the growing needs of humans, it has become a challenge for women to fulfill all their responsibilities and to perform all their roles at the same time. Therefore, their dependency on family members, helpers/maids, friends, neighbors, and the media has increased. Media here includes print (i.e. newspaper, magazine, tabloids), electronic (i.e. television, radio), and new media (i.e. internet and mobile technology). This study evaluates how the internet can help working women to perform their household responsibilities.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES
SR.
NO.
FIGURES
PAGE NO.
1
Local Area Network (LAN)
1
2
Wide Area Network (WAN)
2
3
Distribution of Internet users in the world by geographic
regions 2015
7
4
Distribution of internet users in India as of October 2015,
by gender and urbanity
7
5
Estimated number of households with fixed broadband by
2017, by country (in millions)
8
6
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Age of the Working Women
86
7
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Educational Qualification of the Working Women
86
8
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Type of Family
87
9
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Occupation of the Working Women
87
10
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Occupation of the Spouse
88
11
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their monthly income of self
88
12
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their monthly income of spouse
89
13
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Total Monthly Family Income
89
14
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
number of children
90
15
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their years of marriage
90
16
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Formal training in Computer in Education
91
17
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Devices used for Internet Access at Home
91
18
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to
their Computer Course
92
19
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Electronic devices used for Internet Access
92
20
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Internet Network
93
21
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
money spent monthly on internet
93
22
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Time spent on Internet
94
23
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Length of Internet (In years)
94
24
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Browser used for Accessing Internets
95
25
Percentage Distribution of the respondents according to the
Search Engine used for Accessing Internet
95
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE.
NO.
TABLES
PAGE
NO.
1
Tool used for data collection for different purpose
37
2
Intensity indices
40
3
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Age
44
4
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Educational Qualification
45
5
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Type of Family
46
6
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Occupation
46
7
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Occupation of their Spouse
47
8
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Monthly Income
47
9
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Monthly Income of their Spouse
48
10
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their total Family Monthly income
49
11
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Number of Children
50
12
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their Years of Marriage
50
13
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Formal Training in Computer
Education
51
14
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Computer Course for which
training was undertaken
52
15
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the informal sources of learning
about computer and internet
52
16
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Device used for Internet access
at home
53
17
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Electronic devices used for
Internet access
54
18
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the type of internet networks
55
19
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the monthly expenses on Internet
Usage
56
20
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Time spent on Internet Usage
56
21
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to their length of Internet usage (in
years)
57
22
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Browser used for Accessing
Internet
58
23
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Search Engines used for
accessing Internet
59
24
Item wise Intensity Indices showing Internet usage by
Working Women to large extent for various purposes
60
25
Item wise Intensity Indices showing Internet usage by
Working Women to moderate extent for various purposes
61
26
Item wise Intensity Indices showing Internet usage by
Working Women to less extent for various purposes
62
27
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities executed in
Kitchen Management
63
28
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working women
according to the Responsibilities shared in kitchen
management
64
29
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities Executed in
Children Rearing
66
30
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities shared in
Children Rearing
68
31
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities executed in
Social Responsibilities
70
32
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities shared with
others in Social Responsibilities
72
33
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities executed in
Housekeeping.
74
34
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities shared in
Housekeeping
75
35
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities Executed in
Finance Management
77
36
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Responsibilities shared in Finance
Management
78
37
Item wise Intensity indices on the Household
Responsibilities of Kitchen Management which are
fulfilled by the Working Women with the Use of Internet
79
38
Item wise Intensity indices on the Household
Responsibilities of Children Rearing which are fulfilled by
the Working Women with the Use of Internet
80
39
Item wise Intensity indices on the Household
Responsibilities of Social Responsibility which are fulfilled
by the Working Women with the use of internet
81
40
Item wise Intensity indices on the Household
Responsibilities of Housekeeping which are fulfilled by the
Working Women with the Use of Internet
82
41
Item wise Intensity indices on the Household
Responsibilities of Finance Management which are
fulfilled by the Working Women with the Use of Internet
82
42
Item wise Intensity Indices of the Problems faced by
Working Women while accessing internet
83
43
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Working
Women according to the Suggestions for promoting
internet usage amongst them
84
44
Tool used for data collection for different purpose
110
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTERNET
"There was a time when people felt that internet was another world, but now people
have realized it's a tool that we use in this world - Tim Berners Lee"
While it may seem like a simple question, defining the Internet isn't easy. Because
unlike any other technology, the Internet can be whatever we make it. We can shape it.
We can mold it. But most importantly, we can use it to connect people, communities,
and countries around the world.
When the computing era took a major leap in the 80s, it was all just about the
operating systems and the programming languages. People were getting gaga over the
heavy technology revolution thinking that this is the one thing that the world needed to
get over the bounds of time and space, and as usual, they were wrong. It was not long
after the computer revolution that a tide, a blizzard of communication, arrived. This
technology now makes the computers look lifeless if they don't have it. Connecting the
corners of the cobwebbed world even from its remotest corner is the 'Internet'
(Mathur, 2016). There are two main types of computer networks.
x Local Area Network (LAN): A LAN is two or more connected computers
sharing certain resources in a relatively small geographic location, often in the
same building. Examples include home networks and office networks.
Figure 1: Local Area Network (LAN)
1
x Wide Area Network (WAN): A WAN typically consists of two or more LANs.
The computers are farther apart and are linked by telephone lines, dedicated
telephone lines, or radio waves. The Internet is the largest Wide Area Network
(WAN) in existence.
"The internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't
understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.
- Eric Schmidt."
Figure 2: Wide Area Network (WAN)
1.2 HISTORY OF INTERNET
The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use
the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link billions of devices worldwide. It is
a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business,
and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of
electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an
extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-
linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW)
and applications, electronic mail, telephony, and peer-to-peer networks for file
sharing.
It has been exactly 20 years since the Internet entered our country's e-sphere and has
been powering our lives in ways unimaginable back then. From education, banking,
shopping, to the notorious hacks and scams; Internet has become universal. It has
moved from the bulky desktops in cyber cafés and arrived into the palms of people;
2
the future looks even more sweeping with balloon Internet complete with flying cars
and virtual reality zones where all that is needed to explore is human imagination.
1986: ERNET project starts up; email exchange using UUCP protocol established
between National Centre for Software Technology, Bombay, and IIT Bombay
(Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995)
1987: Email exchange between ERNET institutions in metros; TCP over X.25
established between the ERNET gateway at NCST and internet via CWI in
Amsterdam
1988: TCP/IP connection between ERNET's gateway at NCST and UUNET's
gateway in Falls Church, USA; domain registration for internet access initiated on
behalf of ERNET by the ERNET team at NCST, Bombay
1988: Leased lines used to connect ERNET partner institutions to ERNET gateway in
Bombay
1989: LWBBS (Live Wire BBS) and BBS CiX launch online services; VSNL
commissions a Gateway Packet Switching System (GPSS) running X.25 protocol;
ERNET acquires an analog leased line operating at 9600 bps to connect ERNET
gateway at NCST, Bombay, to UUNET in the US
1990: TCP/IP implemented for communication between ERNET centres connected
by leased lines
1991: LWBBS turns into a paid subscription service and expands to other cities such
as Ahmedabad, Madras (Chennai), Pune, Calcutta (Kolkata), Baroda, Vapi
1992: ERNET's overseas link from Bombay to Falls Church upgraded to a 64 kpbs
digital leased line
1992: Business India launches aXcess, a value-added service offering email as well as
e-news, stock quotes
1994: ERNET establishes a hub in Bangalore to provide TCP/IP-level connectivity
over satellite links to locations otherwise unreachable by dedicated circuits
3
1995: VSNL introduces public internet access in India via dialup services in 6 cities
on August 15, 1995; IndiaWorld portal launches on March 13
1996: Major newspapers such as
The Times of India, The Hindu, The Indian
Express and Hindustan Times set up websites; Rediff.com launched; India's first
cyber cafe launched in Mumbai
1997: Tamil newspaper Dinamani sets up website; Hotmail creator Sabeer Bhatia
sells Hotmail to Microsoft for $400 million; first online banking site launched by
ICICI Bank; Naukri.com launched (this becomes one of India's first profitable
dotcoms); IndusInd also launches website; Khel.com cricket site launched
1998: Private ISPs allowed to set up internet infrastructure; LWBBS's Pune node,
JabberWocky operated by WMI becomes the first ISP licensee; Sify becomes India's
first national ISP license holder; first major hacking case (teenagers hack data on
BARC's servers); launch of NASSCOM to promote IT industry by efforts of Dewang
Mehta; cyber cafes start mushrooming across Indian cities; annual India Internet
World conference series starts in Pragati Maidan
1999: India World sold to Sify for US$115 million (Rs 499 crore) triggering the
dotcom boom in India; WebDunia, India's first and most successful Hindi portal,
launched; large number of dotcoms appear, mostly modelled as e-marketplaces but
have untested revenue models and big spends; Sify lists on NASDAQ (first Indian
Internet company to list in the USA, and second in any category); Sify sets up
hundreds of public internet kiosks under the brandname i-Way; New Telecom Policy
1999 launched by DoT; India ISPs allowed to set up satellite international gateways;
IndiaInfo portal launched
2000: Parliament passes Information Technology Act 2000; foreign portals like
Yahoo and MSN set up Indian sites; Bazee.com launched based on the eBay model;
Indya.com launched with Rs 4.5 crore campaign blitz; birth of online journalism:
Tehelka.com exposes cricket betting scandal; ITC launches e-Choupal initiative to
take the internet to villages; Railtel Corporation of India launched; NSE launches
online stocktrading; cable internet starts replacing dialup connections; 2000: Rediff
IPO on NASDAQ; Sulekha.com legal entity founded in Austin, Texas
4
2001: Subscription sites set up by thenewspapertoday.com and NaiDunia.com; Times
of India group launches 8888 mobile service; India Today group launches 2424
mobile service; first cyber crime-related arrest (two arrested for hacking
go2nextjob.com); Indian Railways launches online ticketing site (irctc.com) which
soon becomes India's largest e-revenue earner; India's first cyber crime police station
opens in Bangalore; Dotcom bubble bursts -- many sites close, some go into
hibernation; C-DAC announced the launch of its Multilingual Advanced News
Automation System: MANAS; GAIL India launched; Andhra Pradesh state
government launches e-procurement portal and extends public internet kiosk facility
to every mandal office
2002: Malayalam Varikha.com, the website of weekly Malayalam magazine, launches
paid site; NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) initiative
launched; India's first teleradiology company Teleradiology Solutions launched;
Indian ISPs allowed to set up submarine international gateways; Wikipedia.org adds
Assamese, Punjabi, Nepali, Oriya, Malayalam content
2003: Air Deccan launches India's first online air ticketing site; NIXI (National
Internet Exchange of India) set up; WiFi (2.4GHz) deregulated by GoI; official
representation from India's DoT and DIT at WSIS 2003 in Geneva; AirTel launches
broadband internet access; Wikipedia.org adds Bhojpuri, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi,
Kashmiri, Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Sindhi content
2004: DoT declares its Broadband Policy; BSNL introduces broadband; eBay buys
Bazee.com; Monster.com buys Jobsahead.com; NIXI takes over management of the
.IN Registry; ITC e-Choupal demonstrates rural internet adoption; Google starts India
office; Wikipedia.org adds Bengali, Urdu content; Sulekha starts Hindi operations;
Ebay India CEO arrested for alleged sale of porn online, but later released -- the arrest
is criticised by industry
2005: Social networking sites like Orkut make their presence felt; online registration
of .IN domains begins; Indic language user interface appears on basic cellphones
2006: Facebook makes India debut; OneIndia.in portal launched; national E-
Governance Plan launched; Naukri.com IPO in India
5
2007: Major media websites switch to tab-based design; Arzoo.com re-launched as a
travel portal by Sabeer Bhatia; Twitter makes its India debut; Google News launches
Hindi service
2008: India sets a world record by sending 10 satellites into orbit in a single launch;
Apple iPhone debut in India; Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in India; Google
News launches in Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu
2009: GoI puts forth the draft policy on Indian language IDNs
2010: 3G spectrum auctioned by telecom players after two-year-long process; WiMax
licenses auctioned; GoI announces National IPv6 Roadmap; TRAI releases National
Broadband Plan; MakeMyTrip lists on NASDAQ at over US$1 billion; Facebook
overtakes Orkut in India
2011: Mobile number portability launched; ICANN approves 7 Indian language
Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) for India; iPad enters India market after its
Dell and Samsung rivals; Pearson Group takes controlling stake in e-education startup
Tutor Vista; Indian government launches National Knowledge Network (NKN); India
internet start-ups Komli Media, LetsBuy.com bag $21 million venture capital deals;
India's 2011 census uses social media; IIT courses, lectures made available online.
(Rao, Manzar, 2011)
1.3 STATISTICAL DATA OF INTERNET USERS:
As of 2014, India was the third-largest online market with more than 198 million
internet users, ranked only behind China and the United States and declaring itself as
a market not to be ignored on the global stage. Furthermore, men dominated internet
usage with 61 percent to women's 39 percent. Average daily online usage in the
country amounted to 5.1 hours among internet users. There are 345 million present
users of India as of January 2016.
(Source:
http://www.statista.com/
)
6
Figure 3: Distribution of Internet users in the world by geographic regions
2015
The above graph gives information about internet users in the world by geographic
regions as of November 2015. During this period asia had majority number of internet
users (1622 million) followed by Europe (604.1 million) the least number of internet
users were in Oceania / Australia.
Figure 4: Distribution of internet users in India as of October 2015, by gender
and urbanity
(Source:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/491276/gender-distribution-of-internet-
users-in-india-urbanity/
)(Internet and Mobile Association of India; IMRB)
38%
12%
62%
88%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Urban
Rural
Male
Female
7
23.44
24.06
28.04
29.3
30.39
37.98
40.64
100.96
251.2
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
U.K
France
Russia
Brazil
Germany
India
Japan
U.S
China
Number of households in millions
This above graph gives information on the gender distribution of internet users in
India as of October 2015, sorted by urbanity. During this period of time, 88 percent of
rural Indian internet users were male.
Figure 5: Estimated number of households with fixed broadband by 2017, by
country (in millions)
(Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/491276/gender-distribution-of-internet-
users-in-india-urbanity/)(Internet and Mobile Association of India; IMRB)
The above graphprovides information regarding the estimated number of households
with fixed broadband by 2017 in various countries. It was revealed that China would
have the highest number of households with fixed broadband and U.K would have the
least number users of fixed broadband. India would be on the fourth position with
37.98 million households having fixed broadband.
8
1.4 USE OF INTERNET FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES
"We are all now connected by the internet, like neurons in a giant brain- Stephen
Hawking."
Internet is today one of the most important part of our daily life. There are large
numbers of things that can be done using the internet and so it is very important.
Today internet is used for different purposes depending upon the requirement.
x Communication
The most popular thing for which internet is used is to communicate with the people.
It has allowed people to communicate not only through text but also through their
voice and face to face via voice calling and video calling respectively. People
commonly uses it for emailing, connecting through social networking sites like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
x Education and Research
Education is one of the most important feature that the internet provides. There are a
number of books, reference books, online help centres, expert's views and other study
oriented material on the internet that can make the learning process very easier as well
as a fun learning experience.
There are different search engines, gateways and e-libraries, which allow researchers
to have access to research papers related to their concerned topic. Through internet
researcher can also publish their research work so that common mass can avail its
benefits.
x E-Commerce
Apart from communication, education and research, another significant use of internet
is of financial transaction. This feature of internet enables people to purchase or sell
items online easily. It has reduced the time and energy of human beings spent on
shopping and other financial transactions.
9
x Real Time Updates
Internet provides recent updates of everything happening around the world. With its
feature to share information it allow its users to get real time update as well.
x Advertising and Publicity
Similarly like publishing anything on internet it is also easy to advertise any product
on internet. One can use the internet to advertise various products. One may use the
multimedia capabilities of the internet to make available product specification sheets,
audio files, images, and video clips of products Internet provides a big platform to
publicize any product, event, place etc.
x Carry out Online Surveys and Research
Traditional methods of performing surveys are often relatively slow and expensive
compared to online surveys conducted on the Internet. It can be used for data
collection, collecting reviews for research and data analysis as well. Internet saves
time of reaching out to big sample and collect data from them.
x Get Technical Support
There are various things for which one need technical support, viz. for repairing to
recycling etc. Internet have variety of information regarding technical support for
anything.
x Obtain Feedback from Mass
The interactive nature of the internet allows everyone to give their opinion for
particular topic. There are discussion forums, social networking site and micro
networking site through which people give their feedback may be for particular event,
person or product. It is even become a convenient method for obtaining customer
feedback. On every website there is "feedback" option to identify the satisfaction
level of customers regarding the services/products provided.
10
The main purpose of the Internet is offering effective information sharing and
communication globally using computers, mobile phones and other gadgets. Notably,
the Internet is the biggest player in the realization of the concept of globalization
today. With the Internet, the world has become a global village.
Hussain and Moin (2014) mentioned "In India approximately 40% internet users are
women. Across the globe, countries have recognized Internet as an effective tool in
catalyzing the economic activity in efficient Governance and in developing human
resources. Various Internet tools are used to inform and educate the women. The
development of a society largely depends on the access to information. Though we are
living in a modern era, but women are still suffering from various problems. Internet
plays an important role in women's empowerment and development ranging from
Health, Lifestyle, and Education and economic independence"
Women's empowerment is focused on increasing their power to take control over
decisions that shape their lives. For women who can access and use Internet, it offers
potential, especially in terms of improving health, to educate them, reducing poverty,
improving governance, overcoming isolation, and providing a voice to them.
1.5 USES OF INTERNET BY DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS
Established only a few decades ago, the Internet is a system of enormous technical
and social complexity. It comprises a gigantic but almost invisible universe that
includes thousands of networks, millions of computers, and billions of users across
the world (Greenfield & Yan, 2006).Internet especially Social Media has changed the
communication paradigm, making it no longer difficult to reach a large number of
people beyond geographical boundaries. It can play a significant role in the
empowerment of women.
x
Children: Nowadays, the children from a very early age start
Home access to
computers and the Internet has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, and
the ways children, use these tools are in rapid flux, as new technologies are
developed. For example, Internet-enabled devices now include not only computers,
but televisions, electronic books, and other handheld devices such as music players
and cell-phones. Research on the effects of home computer and Internet use on
11
children is limited and often does not control for the presence of other potentially
confounding factors (http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=home-computer-
access#sthash.paHwtT5m.dpuf).
Apart from the obvious enjoyment many young
children experience playing games, watching video clips and socializing online, their
engagement with the internet helps to develop emergent digital literacies. It can also
support future academic achievement, playful encounters and social interaction
(Cavanaugh et al, 2004; Johnson, 2010; Marsh, 2010; Judge et al, 2006).
x
Adolescents:
Computer access and use among adolescents and other age brackets
have grown exponentially over the past decade. The Internet is used as a means for
socialization, education, information access, entertainment, shopping, and
communication. Among adolescents, the Internet has become indispensable for
instrumental purposes such as school work and information gathering, as well as for
communication purposes. The communication applications of the Internet, such as e-
mail, instant messaging, blogs, and chat rooms have entrenched themselves in the
lives of adolescents (Boneva, Quinn, Kraut, Kiesler, & Shklovski, 2006; Schiano,
Chen, Ginsberg, Gretarsdottir, Huddleston, & Isaacs, 2002) and the Internet has
become an important social context in the lives of today's adolescents lives.
x Adults: In earlier days, mobile phones were used for mainly calls andtexts. One of the
most salient changes over the last ten years has been the way in which adults access
the internet telnet and consume online content, driven by several inter-related factors
including evolutions in technology, infrastructure, cost/price, attitudes, etc. Studies
have found out that adults use internet for social media, gaming, shares, reviewing the
products and services.
x Elderly: With the changing time and advancement in lifestyle, even majority of the
adults own mobile phones. This is changing the way people gather, share, and create
information. The main uses of internet by elderly involve use of technologies for
shopping, health information, local government information or advice, social
networking, support, and various aspects of self- or supportive-learning.
x Women: With the growing need of human, it has become a challenge for women to
fulfill all her responsibility and perform all roles at the same time. Therefore, her
12
dependency has been increased over family members, helpers/maids, friends,
neighbors and Media. Media here include print media i.e. newspaper, magazine,
tabloids, electronic media i.e. television, radio and new media i.e. internet and mobile
technology.
Hussain and Moin (2014) found the main reasons for usage of internet among urban
educated women are information gathering for-
x
Employment /Job Prospects in India and Abroad
x
Research and Information
x
Educational opportunities
x
Career advancement facilities
x
Beauty and Fashion, Hair care, Health & Lifestyle, Apparel and accessories
x
Matrimonial ads
x
Art and Entertainment
x
Social Support system for working women.
Technology has created many conveniences and opportunities for individuals in
society today. With the advent of various technologies, face-to-face contact has not
been necessary to facilitate communication between individuals. More specifically,
the Internet connects a great many systems and individuals across geographical
distance and time. The impact of the Internet is not fully understood as widespread
implementation is in its infancy. However, face-to-face relationships may be impacted
by the use of technologies, particularly the Internet (Nie, 2001).
"The internet has introduced an enormously accessible and egalitarian platform for
creating, sharing and obtaining information on a global scale. Vint Cerf."
Internet has widened its reach among people by taking them away from just using it
for emails and chat rooms to alternative media. It has given a power to mass for
speaking about their rights, sharing their views on particular topic or event and
showcase their abilities to outside world. It also provides opportunity to learn
different endless things online viz. different languages, cuisines, art and craft and
many more. Though it has expanded its reach in India but women are still to be
reached fully. The possible reasons for less women internet users in India, may be
13
lack of easy access to Internet, lack of knowledge on using internet and lack of
awareness about its importance.
All the sections of society i.e. men, women, children, elderly have equal opportunities
to learn, use or take advantage of internet. It has vast range of items that can be
helpful for women for their healthy lifestyle. It allows its users to create or join online
communities to share or get information, ideas, gain knowledge about any topic.
YouTube, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram are most popular sites
among internet users.
1.6 WOMEN AND THEIR HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES
Women still have to do the lion's share of housework despite going out to work in ever
increasing numbers. Previous Researches have found that they spent three times as
long on domestic chores, such as cooking, cleaning and washing, as their husbands or
partners. Women are the breadwinners, however, have to shoulder the burden of all the
housework Gender inequalities `rooted' researchers said the survey results meant
women would not achieve equal opportunities at work until their menfolk contributed
more to looking after the home. (Working women `still do housework', Feb 2004).
Breadwinning is part of the "package deal" for men, a must-have of middle-class
masculinity (Kimmel, 2006; Townsend, 2002). Since the mid-19
th
century, the cultural
ideal of men as "good providers" has prevailed (Bernard, 1972; Gerson, 1993;
Kimmel, 2006). Despite the surge in women's labor force participation rates, the
social fabric of the family remains structured around cultural expectations for men to
be breadwinners and women to be caregivers (Blair-Loy, 2003; Ridgeway, 2009;
Risman, 1998). In dual-earner households, men are still perceived as the primary
breadwinners whereas women are held responsible for the "second shift" of domestic
work (Hochschild, 1989; Potuchek, 1997). Men whose wives work outside the home
maintain traditional gender boundaries through such strategies as deeming their
wives' earnings as "inessential" and assuming a "helper" role in the household
(Coltrane, 1996; Gerson, 1993; Hertz, 1986; Potuchek, 1997).
A working woman has to play the main role at the home front as well. They despite of
having a working schedule have to pursue most of the household responsibilities. As
very well said every day is not same, so is the case in a normal routine of a working
14
woman, they have to face challenges while performing tasks and duties. In earlier
times, for finding solutions to such problems there were only resorts of going to the
elders or doing a trial and error method approach for such situation. Nowadays,
anything and everything is available on the internet, and so while facing any
challenges in the performing household responsibilities like kitchen management,
children rearing, social responsibility, housekeeping, and financial management,
women try and seek help of solutions available online.
Even as many working women decrease their use of television and other media due to
their busy schedule, working women are relying heavily on the Internet to manage
their busy lives. Caroline Little, CEO (2007)and publisher of Washington post.
Newsweek Interactive, said, "It is clear that working women feel pressed for time and
are turning to the Internet to find balance in their lives. It is not a big surprise that
working women say they are extremely busy, but it is fascinating to see how much
they have come to rely on the Internet. While many working women are decreasing
their TV and magazine consumption, even more are actually increasing their Internet
usage." "Unlike other media, the Web is actually viewed as a time-saving device.
The busier working women get, the more they rely on the Internet for reading the
news, researching products, making travel plans and more. Because the Internet has
become so important in the lives of working women, it is clearly now an essential
means for reaching them."
Hence, its imperative to study in the present context how internet can be of help to
working women for performing her household responsibilities. Internet can be a boom
for such women when she can order her grocery, order food from restaurant buy
kitchen stuff and refer her children's projects online while sitting in her office. There
are number of questions which are posed to avail the reply.
1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Why women are using internet?
2. What type of gadgets women are using to access internet?
3. What are those household responsibilities for which women depend on
internet?
15
4. Does internet help them in performing their household responsibilities?
5. Do they face any difficulty while using internet?
6. What are those difficulties?
7. How can we encourage women to use internet optimally for performing their
jobs effectively and efficiently.
Therefore, it is suggested to take up the following study
1.8 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
To study the usage of internet by Working Women of Vadodara City for performing
their household responsibilities.
1.9 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
In today's era with technological advancement. Internet has become vital aid in the
management of daily chores. Internet has witnessed to widespread millions of people
worldwide in the last decade. It has become powerful medium of communication,
information dissemination, source of learning and also electronic commerce in form
of online shopping, trading, payment gateways and internet banking. Internet can be
whatever we make it, we shape it, we mold it; but most importantly we can use it to
connect people, communities and countries around the world. Internet is accessed and
used by all. There are billions of users of internet. Women are also one of the main
users of internet. Working Women has dual responsibility to play in the society. They
have a role of good wife to be fulfilled as well as a better employee. Women are
relying on internet to manage their task load.
With the changing time, the responsibility of women is not only rearing and caring
but a woman also plays a role of bread earner of the family to support the family and
to become financially independent. There are millions of internet users who are
women and use internet for performing household responsibilities. Due to the multiple
role that women have to play they often feels socially aloof which can lead to stress
and anxiety. Through internet women can get a social platform to connect with others
and relieve their stress. Apart from socializing internet is an ocean of information and
16
solution to each problem. It also serves as a platform of entertainment and thus
internet can be a better guide in every situation and scenario. Very few studies have
been done extensively to study the usage of internet for different purposes.
The present research will aid the women in gaining perspective regarding various uses
of internet. The finding will also help to broaden the thinking towards internet since it
is perceived as a mean for social media and social interaction. Internet can be serve as
a platform for surfing information, enhancing skills, proving job opportunities and for
displaying skills and talents.
This research study has been taken to study the usage of internet by working women
of Vadodara city and to find out the household responsibilities of working women in
their daily life. The study focusses on the purposes for which women are using
Internet and what problems are they facing while using internet. The study will also
give a closer view on the trend of the responsibilities by working women for fulfilling
their household tasks with the help of internet.
1.10 JUSTIFICATION OF THE SAMPLE
Women are vulnerable and very important section of our society. It is always
recommended by scholars to study each and every aspect of their life. Now in this
informative age, where internet has become an important part of our life, it becomes
more justifiable to study usage and impact of internet on women.
According to Google report India's population 1,294,239,433 (1.29 billion). The
population women in India 625,894,189 (625 million) 48.4%.out of them only 32.37
% are Working Women. With the advent of new media and technology women
around the world are taking up to the smart standard of living which includes juggling
through roles at home and at work. Usage of internet has risen in the last five years
with the percentage of women users being 38 percent in the year 2015. Right from
child rearing to banking, women now a days are becoming smart citizens and making
use of internet services for work like cooking as well. Use of internet has
compartmentalized the world into one click where initially women had to make
efforts to manage tasks, now they can manage work easily in no time.
17
Though the internet medium has gained momentum in India, most of the women have
not been able to utilize its benefits, the reason being lack of proper knowledge. To
counter this issue, classes and institutions of Adult Education Courses have taken up
the task of running computer and internet literacy courses exclusively for women who
can reap the benefits of internet.
No research efforts have been made to analyze the pattern of Internet usage in
fulfilling their household responsibilities in specific working women. The present
study on the usage of internet by working women will contribute immensely in the
society to know how often the internet is being used to fulfill their household
responsibilities. The study will also give a closer view on the trend of the
responsibilities by working women and highlight the pattern of using internet by
working women for maintaining their work life balance and fulfilling their household
and professional responsibilities.
1.11 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
· To prepare the profile of the Working Women residing in Vadodara City.
· To study the internet usage pattern of Working Women of Vadodara City.
· To study the household responsibilities interms of children rearing, kitchen
management, social responsibility, house-keeping, financial management of
Working Women residing in Vadodara City
· To study the usage of internet by Working Women for performing their household
tasks.
· To study the problem faced by Working Women while using internet.
· To seek the suggestions for encouraging Women to use internet for learning
purposes.
1.12 ASSUMPTIONS OF THE STUDY
· Working Women are using Internet
· Working Women use internet to buy products, gain knowledge and learn things.
· Working Women perform household responsibilities in various aspects like
18
- Kitchen Management
- Child Rearing
- Social responsibilities
- House keeping
- Financial management
1.13 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
· Study was delimited to 110 selected Working Women from Vadodara city.
· Study was delimitated to married Working Women and who have one child or
more.
· Study was delimitated to Working Women who have household responsibilities.
19
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The present study aims at studying the usage of internet by working women of
Vadodara city for performing their household responsibilities in the year of 2015-16.
Hence, empirical and conceptual literature was available for the study.
The review was collected with the help of online journals, online articles, online
news. Related books, thesis, journals etc. was referred to write the review of literature
chapter.
The literature reviewed in this chapter has been divided into following sections:
2.1 CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
Women across the world are driving some of the most mainstream aspects of the
Internet experience today--the social Web, e-commerce, flash shopping and
consumption of user-generated content via YouTube. They have spawned a whole
new genre of Internet games, and have driven much of the blogging and photo sharing
Review of
Literature
Conceptual
Review
Empirical
Review
Reseaches
conducted in
India
Researches
conducted in
Abroad
20
activity. They tweet, they share, they shop, they search--but for their own reasons, in
their own way and on their own terms. The main thing holding them back is Internet
connectivity, and that barrier will gradually be removed going forward. Although
mobile adoption among women seems to trail men currently, this appears to be
primarily driven by availability of data plans rather than an inherent tendency to be
less engaged. As data plans become more available and affordable, women will take
their seat at the mobile Web table as well. Once women connect, they engage; once
they engage, they embrace; once they embrace, they drive. And that's the future. The
Internet: it's women's work (Abraham, Mörn and Vollman, 2010).
According to the report of 12
th
Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and
the Carribean (2013), women entrepreneurs should mainstream the use of ICT in their
businesses, improve their performance and replicate the knowledge acquired, required
identifying women entrepreneurs with stable enterprises, experience in their
respective sectors and capacities to implement the knowledge gained. This will ensure
that women entrepreneurs will have comprehensive business experience, education at
the tertiary level, access to and use of ICTs, direct responsibility for their enterprises
and seamless linkage with actors at the regional and national levels that would enable
them to expand their information and knowledge networks. The women all agreed on
the importance of using ICTs to increase their opportunities and expand their markets
and contacts, not only regionally but also globally. This consensus on the
opportunities that ICTs can provide has led them to adapt their enterprises to the
current virtual environment. They also concluded that when women have access to
training in the use of ICTs for business, the results are successful. In the case studied,
women have been able to identify development potential, expand their businesses and
improve the outcomes. In this environment, training expanded the possibilities for
production development in the framework of the digital economy. ICTs can be a
powerful tool for women, because they open an array of possibilities for negotiating,
marketing and delivering their products. But this tool is not enough without the
support of policies on access to credit, allocation of assets and training for business
distributed equitably between men and women.
21
Details
- Pages
- Type of Edition
- Erstausgabe
- Year
- 2016
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783960675518
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783960670513
- File size
- 1.8 MB
- Language
- English
- Institution / College
- Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda – Department of Extension and Communcation
- Publication date
- 2016 (June)
- Grade
- 7.02
- Keywords
- Vadodara Internet usage Gender India Women in India Empirical research Housework Household management
