Impact of Modern Technology on the Lives of Rural Women

Abstract

Economic growth and technological advancement in the third world countries in recent decade is very impressive and it is imperative not to ignore the fact of an urban prejudice which leads to ignore rural areas in the development process of these nations. This research paper has focused on women in rural sector of Pakistan. An effort has been made to find out the changing roles and status of women in a rural area with the introduction of new technologies in their daily lives and study its impact on their socioeconomic development. The study has highlighted the role of women in the household and compare the traditional chores with the modern technologies. The crux of the dissertation leads us to understand the adaptation of new labor saving technologies like motor driven pumps replacing old hand pumps or fetching water from a distance, availability of refrigerators reliving women the burden of cooking multiple meals a day and the availability of gas stoves instead of slow wood fire cooking. Time saved is spent on their personal and family wellbeing. Over all it is an attempt to review the changing role of rural women due to technological adaptation in the rural sector and to evaluate the positive and negative impact of it on them in recent times. This research has been conducted in a village called Khalchain Mughlan located near Raya Khas Station in Narowal district, sixty kilometers to north from Lahore. The participants of the research were women of the area belonging to different age groups and status. Qualitative technique (in-depth interviews) has been used to collect the data. An ethnographic research technique was used. The part of the research methods was participant observations, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The time spend in the village (field) was approximately six and a half months from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020. The objectives of the study were, to explore the local people perception regarding technology, study the impact of use of modern technology on household income, to study the link between the use of technology in relation to education of women in a rural community, to examine the impact of modern technology on rural women health and to analyze the effects of the change with respect to cultural values, norms, beliefs, etc. Modernization theory and Rostow’s stages of development was used as the theoretical framework for the current study. Our research findings pointed towards our position on Rostow’s scale at stage three. From there onwards coherent centralized planning and execution is required to push the stagnant growth onward. Key Words: Technological Advancement, Technology Adoption, Rural Women, Labor Saving Technologies, Changing Role of Rural Women