From Margins to Mainstream: Rural Women and Digital Media

Description

Page: 498-504

Meenu and Kavita Dua (Department of Resource Management and Consumer Science, I.C. College of Community Science, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana)

The digital revolution has transformed communication, education and livelihoods globally, but rural women in India often remain excluded due to limited access, skills and awareness. This study explores the existing knowledge and opinions of rural women regarding digital media and identifies gaps for designing a need-based training program. The research was conducted among rural women from two blocks of Hisar District, i.e., Agroha and Barwala. From block I, two villages, i.e., Kuleri and Sandol, and from block II, two villages, i.e., Dhani Khan Bahadur and Naya Gaon villages were randomly selected for the research. 50 rural women were selected from each village. Thus, the overall sample size was 200. The study revealed that the majority of respondents (35.5%) were in the 20-30 age group, with 76.5 percent married and 64.0 percent housewives. Only 9.0 percent respondents personally owned smartphones, while 73.0 percent shared usage with family. Internet showed the highest exposure, whereas radio was least used. Respondents displayed good knowledge of basic functions like switching phones on/off (WMS = 5.12) but very low awareness of advanced uses such as emails (WMS = 1.53) and online shopping (WMS = 1.74). While confidence was low, women strongly expressed the need for training and valued digital media for information and social connection.