Women Weavers OnLine: Rural Moroccan Women on the Internet

Abstract

This article presents a case study of how gender functions in the information society at two sites in rural Morocco. At both sites, mostly illiterate rural women sell the rugs and other textiles they weave on the Internet, which could provide a solution to the perennial problem of marketing the products of isolated rural women. In addition, it could allow women to keep a larger share of the final profit, which often instead goes to middlewomen/men. The article describes the process of rural women selling textiles online, including both benefits and the constraints. The two sites provide interesting contrasts in terms of gender, communication challenges, and the transmission of payment internationally. However, women obtain more of the profits generated by their work, and also some degree of empowerment. Profus are used to support the family or for children ’s education, and at one site rug sales are assisted by the village development association, which receives a percentage of the profits and puts them into village projects like latrines for the school.