Transforming Information Technology (IT)
for Indigenous Women

Workshop Findings on the IT Issues and Strategies
for Māori Women
at the Flaxroots Technology Conference 2002

Janette Hamilton-Pearce

j.b.hamilton-pearce@massey.ac.nz

Ko te kai rapu, ko ia te kite.
She who seeks will find.

Introduction

The 2002 Flaxroots Technology conference was the setting for a facilitated discussion workshop on Information Technology (IT) issues for Indigenous Women and was the first of its kind in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The dual purpose was to identify IT issues and strategies to resolve them.

It was expected that while the issues would be broad and diverse, and would possibly relate to any group, they would be presented initially as issues for indigenous women. One intended outcome of the workshop was to find strategies that would sustain indigenous women in the IT arena.

At the end of the workshop the comments became evidently Māori specific, therefore this paper refers to Māori women rather than generalising to indigenous women.

The methodology and cultural approach for this workshop was an integral part of this exercise. The details are described at the end of this report.

Findings and analysis

To re-iterate the workshop participants were mainly Māori and so the findings refer to “Māori” women rather than indigenous women.

The issues of importance include infrastructure, education, cultural aspects and women’s issues. Firstly, the infrastructure issues relate to the cost of computers, access to the technology, bandwidth, IT progression, support, and Māori involvement. Secondly, the education issues involve different learning styles, having a shared understanding about what IT is and appropriate media usage. Thirdly, the cultural issues included views that whānau is paramount, that the inclusion of Māori philosophy, practices and processes should perpetuate IT developments and Māori control of IT for Māori. Lastly, women’s issues included equality and isolation.

The issues pertinent to Māori women are their commitments to whānau, hapü and Iwi; their desire to take control of IT for themselves; the requirement for Māori values and beliefs to be incorporated in the IT arena, and for the participation of Māori women in IT to increase.

Firstly, Māori women have mana and continue to be committed to the sustainability of their whānau, hapü and Iwi, whether in their organisations, at home, in their communities or Iwi groups. Some women explained:

“My whānau is paramount.”
“Can we have whānau education with IT?”
“I am accountable to my whānau, hapü, Iwi and Māori organisations and communities.”
“I work too hard on marae issues for survival and projects, I have no time for learning how to use the computer or do my work on the computer.”

Secondly, it was believed that it is time Māori took control of IT and utilised it to its fullest potential.

For example: “Maori should be taking control of IT by providing what they want. Entertainment and information related media should be used together to make it relevant for Māori to use and understand”.

Thirdly, Māori women who are IT professionals said the IT arena did not acknowledge Māori values and beliefs. For example:

“There is a cultural mismatch. I want my way of knowing to be the foundations of how I work in IT and perform. Māori knowledge, information, values, beliefs and communications are very important. Quite often you are in conflict with your own values and beliefs of which you were brought up on. Your own way of knowing the world and who you are is marginalised. Māori philosophy needs to be related to IT and new technology.”

Finally, another issue introduced by Māori women IT professionals is the isolation as few Māori women work in the IT field. They explained:

“There is lack of Māori women in computer science education.”
“Involvement of Māori women in decision-making and authoritative roles in IT is minimal.”
“I feel alone, frustrated, most times political, and isolated in my IT area. It puts me in an area of isolation.”

The findings show that Māori women’s voices on IT issues are imperative and strategies are vital. These strategies would need Government participation and support, and would include sub-strategies that focus on infrastructure, education and support networks. The benefit would not only be for women as individuals, but the collectives they are committed to, such as whānau, hapü and Iwi and in turn Aotearoa as a whole.

IT infrastructure, IT education, cultural, and women’s issues

The following bullet points are the range of issues raised during the workshop and have been categorised and listed to provide an organised overview for further analysis.

1. Infrastructure issues:

• Cost of computers limits access and use.
• Access in remote and rural areas makes accessing the Internet difficult, and poses bandwidth problems.
• Information technology progresses at a fast pace perpetuating its inaccessibility. Compatibility issues between systems is still an issue and in particular Apple and PC users, and multiple versions.
• Many organisations lack IT management, technical support and IT representation. Therefore, management may not appreciate the resources required to implement a sound and effective IT infrastructure.
• There are few Māori women in decision-making and authoritative roles in IT.
• Māori designs and graphics should be incorporated with IT interface, hardware and software.

2. Education issues:

• There is a lack of Māori in computer science and information systems courses. Training programmes for Māori women need to include different learning styles, such as self directed learning and/or prescribed group learning with practical skills for both Mac and PC platforms. Training programmes should incorporate whānau education with IT.
• IT sectors, disciplines and education are fragmented in complex ways that seem unclear. Training programmes should have a shared understanding of what IT is without assumptions, as IT language is intimidating. There is little understanding about IT definitions, too much jargon and confusing acronyms. It is the not knowing about IT that is scary. Remove the fears, as women do not understand the purpose of IT. More appropriate education and training is needed to understand IT. Try not to have IT superior to people.
• Entertainment media is used more than information media. Training programmes should teach which communication media (e.g. text, multimedia, oral media with either entertainment or information systems) is appropriate for specific Māori occasions, situations or events.

3. Cultural issues:

• The “whānau” is paramount. Women are accountable to their whānau, hapü, Iwi and Māori organisations and communities.
• There is a cultural mismatch with IT just like education, health and other areas Māori work in. It is important that the Māori way of knowing forms the foundations of working with IT. The inclusion of Māori philosophy, practices and processes should perpetuate IT developments.
• Māori need to take control of IT for Māori. IT has to belong to Māori and Māori needs to use the appropriate media to make it relevant and easy for Māori to use and understand.

4. Women’s issues:

• Women’s involvement in IT development needs to increase. There is stereotyping of women and unequal access to, and participation in, IT. Our identities, visions, profile, and visibility is diminished. Stereotyping and false images of women and indigenous people, especially in the television media. There needs to be change and we need to advance our own desires, voices, projects and abilities. It is important to have self-determination, decision-making, equality, balance, respect and to be consulted.
• The IT arena can make women feel alone, frustrated, political, and isolated. IT is dominated by white males. It is mono-cultural and is mainly in the dominant English language. Also, IT is intimidating and appears too hard to use. Women feel “dumb” because of the technical and complex language that surrounds IT. Furthermore, older women’s experiences with IT are not known. There should be more research on this area.

Transformation strategies

The strategy session of the workshop highlighted that Government, IT infrastructure, IT education, and support strategies are pertinent.

The following strategies are that:

The Government needs to ensure that Māori women have access and funding to IT (hardware, software, training, infrastructure, and education).

• The Government should track the success of Māori women in IT promoting retention and high achievement. This will assist to increase the numbers of Māori women in IT.
• The Government should promote Māori IT planning and strategy developments that integrate strategies for Māori women. The Government should support the development and monitoring of quality management standards for delivery of IT to Māori. They should support the identification and promotion of successful benchmarks and provide incentives for change.
• The Government needs to support Māori to enter IT management and decision-making positions for the benefit of society.

The following strategies can be incorporated:

• There needs to be Māori IT spokespeople to advise on education, new IT development and access issues. Address issues of ownership of knowledge and appropriate use.
• Free IT foundation courses for Māori women. IT education must be responsive to Māori to ensure educational success for Māori in the IT arena. Use training providers such as Skill New Zealand to increase levels of literacy, communications, and computation. All training providers should develop appropriate IT educational pathways, transparent practices and processes, which are simple, clear and inclusive. Increase and enhance guidance and careers IT sector advice to Māori women. Find different ways to train Māori women who wish to use IT. Appropriate spaces and training where women are not intimidated. This space should provide childcare facilities.
• Improve information and research about Māori and IT. Research what is happening with IT and Māori in schools and communities.
• Identify the technologies that work well in Māori contexts, and offer the best media for content and presentation (oral vs. text).
• Aggressive promotion, recruitment and retention of Māori in IT. Celebrate the success of Māori in IT.
• Encourage integration, support and collaborative activities between IT industry, IT practitioners, IT developers, education, and training opportunities. Increase opportunities for Māori working in IT to work collaboratively across IT sectors in the strategic development of Māori and IT.

The supportive strategies for women are:

• To increase ones own self-esteem, confidence and attitude to undertake any life situation. Ensure support includes and nurtures social and cultural aspects. Supportive networks and environments that affirm and validate Māori values and preferences and ways of doing things, such as Te Wairere Wahine – Professional Māori women in IT. Recognise qualified and relevant Māori people for IT role modelling and mentoring.
• It is important to be optimistic as Māori. We need to know what our needs and aspirations are for IT to be utilised. Then it is possible to identify the purpose of the technology. What is the creativity of IT? Look back to our own traditions and identify uniqueness of Māori information, knowledge, and communication arrangements. Involve Kaumātua and Kuia to inform thinking around all IT levels and facets. Use Kaupapa Māori and holistical approaches. Make IT relevant (Māori knowledge, traditional, we had the technology before, make it belong). Māori want to be vibrant, successful and significant participants in IT? Māori want to be and live as Māori. To actively participate in the IT world. To enjoy a high standard of living through IT. Need strategies for equity, justice, consistency, accountability, integrity and resources, which must underpin Māori values.
• Māori often are accountable to hapü and Iwi. There should be support from IT to take care of the already demanding positions placed on Māori. Should be taking IT to the communities. Increase support and opportunities for all members of the whānau to participate in IT.

Workshop methodology

The two-hour workshop included 35 Māori, Pacific Island, and non-indigenous women and 2 Māori men. The audience was open to any ethnic group, but male participation was by permission of the women who attended on the day.

The Māori women are those who work in organisations, communities, and Iwi groups that use IT and who work as IT professionals. As a Māori woman working in an IT profession I was also a participant of the workshop.

The IT issues were recorded on a whiteboard for visual presentation and data collection. During part of the workshop a video camera was also used to capture the discussions and an area was designated in the room for participants who did not wish to be videoed. Both the analysis of the whiteboard notes and the video footage has contributed to this paper.

In the first hour, the participants introduced themselves, explained where they came from, their organisations, communities, Iwi they worked for and what IT issues they wished to discuss. After the first hour, some participant’s left for other presentations at the conference and others joined the workshop.

In the second hour, the participants (15 Māori, Pacific Island, and non-indigenous women and 2 Māori men) discussed a shared vision and highlighted initial strategies for Māori women.

Improvements to the methodology

The women made connections with each other through hearing familiar IT issues being discussed in the introduction, therefore increasing the environment for each to talk freely amongst one another. This maybe one reason why everyone felt they could take the opportunity to discuss in-detail the IT issues. This lead to the introductions being longer than anticipated, therefore the video camera was not on because of personal information being offered at the same time. It would have been better to separate introductions from the IT issues therefore, having more comprehensive video camera data of IT issues.

Cultural approach to the workshop

The cultural approach was to create an environment where women felt a part of a “whānau”. In the introduction, some women offered their whakapapa and whanaungatanga (kinship) were established.

The cultural approach also included ensuring that the environment for the women was safe and comfortable, and that the women were free to talk about whatever they wished. A decision was made to ask the women on the day whether men could attend. The workshop began with a karakia timatanga and ended with a karakia whakamutunga, and included mihimihi to acknowledge tipuna who came before us.

Kōrero whakamutunga and what next

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for his or her time, effort and discussions. The above results will be used as research for Te Wairere Wahine (Society for Professional Māori Women in IT) who wish to create foundation data and strengthen Māori women’s participation and capacity in the IT arena. Māori women are less likely to enter information technology fields than other groups in Aotearoa. Any new technology often follows a pattern of introduction that perpetuates the social conditions that already exist. For Māori women, this is critical as they seek to change and improve these conditions for their whānau, their people and themselves. It is clear that Māori women are not high participants in IT fields or qualifications. Yet we have little research to understand the situation and develop effective solutions. It is likely that Māori women enter IT fields at the lower levels of the industry where there is little or no access to decision-making. This low uptake has a dual impact. Firstly, projects that support aspirations that are often lead by women (e.g. in education, health, and whānau/hapü development) will not be well supported by technology. Secondly, non-traditional professional fields that now rely on a high IT capacity will remain unattainable for Māori women. Te Wairere Wahine needs to understand the issues and develop strategies to sustain Māori women in the IT arena.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to make improvements, or have comments or suggestions about this paper.

He mihi aroha tēnei ki a koutou, ā, ki a tātou katoa.
Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou kia ora tātou katoa.

Nāku noa, nā Janette Hamilton-Pearce