Gender and digital divide 2000–2008 in two low-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya and Somalia in official statistics

The Beijing World Conference on Women held in 1995 by the United Nations member states, approved strategies for improving women's access to and use of new communication technologies. The aim of this paper is to retrieve official statistics for the years 2000–2008 with regard to sex differences, gender and digital divide (specifically concerning telecommunication technologies) in two low-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya and Somalia. This paper reveals that official statistics on sex discrepancies and, the gender divide regarding access, use and benefits of telecommunications are still almost totally lacking for the countries in view. However, the digital divide is successively closing, and the telecommunication process in Kenya was quite rapid at the end of the period. Official statistics from Somalia are difficult to comprehend due to the absence of official data and a lack of evidence-based knowledge. Fifteen years after the Beijing Conference in 1995 there is still a lack of comprehensive statistics regarding new communication technologies for low-income economies such as Kenya and Somalia.

► The UN goals (1995) of ICT for women in low-income economies are not realized.
► The gender divides are almost out of the international statistical gaze.
► The digital divide is closing and the ICT process in Kenya quite rapid.
► ICT within Somalia are difficult to comprehend due to absence of official data.
► Sex-disaggregated data are not available regarding fundamental ICT indicators.