ABSTRACT
Information and communication technologies (ICT) and mobile technologies in particular have become central to the global development agenda of economic growth and democracy. Mobile phones and other ICTs have become important tools in African healthcare for knowledge dissemination, alerting systems, and in interactive formats, particularly in HIV/AIDS initiatives. This chapter deals with the techno-optimism of much of the literature on mobiles-for-development, as there is a strong need for more gendered analyses of the impact of mobile phones on HIV and AIDS in Africa. African women experience a number of sociocultural, economic, educational, legal, and political vulnerabilities that contribute to their continued position of unequal HIV susceptibility. The chapter explores how both processes of continuity and change, and intersections between gender identity and power based on age, sexuality, and economic resources contribute to ‘the source and functioning of subordination’. Gender relations are shifting in Africa with attendant changes in social categories and social challenges.
