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Meaghan Brierley, Melanie Walker, Mobile Phones & Literacy: Empowerment in Women's Hands: a Cross-case Analysis of Nine Experiences, Science and Public Policy, Volume 45, Issue 1, February 2018, Pages 134–135, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scx031
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This is the ninth book from UNESCO Publishing that has been reviewed for Science and Public Policy since 1987, an average of one to two per decade, and we are honoured to provide the first one since 2005. Mobile Phones & Literacy: Empowerment in Women’s Hands is a well-written report, and worthy of a review. In this review, we examine the complexity of the topic with a focus on the elements highlighted in the title: literacy, empowerment, mobile phones, and gender.
The first few pages enforce that this report is a call to strengthen people-centred and inclusive Information Societies. We as reviewers, and no doubt many readers of Science and Public Policy, support the goal of equal access and critical engagement through information sharing. Given this, it is a delight to be provided on-the-ground examples of where such work is being applied experientially.
The report presents a cross-case analysis of nine mobile phone initiatives. One reviewer especially enjoyed reading Annex 1: ‘Projects reviewed’, which provided a better understanding of the studies outside of the context of the book. It is important to note that the programs chosen were implemented in countries with low and median values on the United Nations Development Programme and the Human Development Index, as well as with higher gender inequality, according to the UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index. As such, it was informative to see a level of transparency in listing the numerous challenges that come with using mobile phones for literacy and empowerment; many discussions tend to skip over the issues.