Community Informatics and Women Empowerment: Opening the Black Box of the Female Self-in-Transformation

Abstract

This article explains a conceptual tool that was used in the Gender Research in Africa and the Middle East into ICT for Empowerment (GRACE) Network, to map journeys of personal and social change toward a self-determined purpose of transformation. Named the Personal Trajectory Map, it was initially intended as a self-management tool for the GRACE members to help clarify thinking, manage emotions and stay focused on project purposes, but its use got extended over time. This article is a moment in the ongoing theorization of this conceptual tool and the approach it was an intricate part of. Its usefulness can be theoretically explained through the interlinkages between the concepts of agency, intent, conation, and the capacity to aspire. Illustrating how it was used in some of the participatory action research processes, this article argues that it is worthwhile to open the black box of the female-self-in-transformation since it will clarify for female participants as well as for their researchers, what they are up against when they want to empower themselves in a male dominated world. Furthermore, offering women a deeper understanding and more guidance in their processes of personal and social change, will not only support female participants, it will enhance research quality and the chances for project success.