Indigenous Narratives of Rural Women on the Impacts of Digital Literacy on Empowerment and the Local Economy (A Study in Oghan Region, Golestan Province)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Management, Accounting, and Economics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Deputy for Coordination of Economic Affairs, Golestan Governorate, Gorgan, Iran.

3 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran.

Abstract

The rapid transformation of digital technologies in recent years has created substantial capacities for enhancing the social and economic roles of rural women. Utilizing these capacities not only contributes to improving household livelihoods but also facilitates sustainable development in local communities. The experiences of rural women indicate that digital literacy, as an influential factor, has opened new avenues for individual empowerment and local economic advancement. This study was qualitative-exploratory and was conducted using a thematic analysis approach. The population consisted of rural women engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, and ecotourism across 10 selected villages. A purposive sample of 50 participants was chosen. To ensure data validity, the opinions of rural entrepreneurship experts and local specialists were employed, while data reliability was confirmed through re-coding by three independent experts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Findings revealed that digital literacy had the greatest impact on the dimension of "market expansion and income growth," with a share of 44.22 percent, ranking as the top priority. This highlights the crucial role of access to new markets, attracting non-local customers, and enhancing the economic capacities of rural women. Moreover, the results showed that women with university education had higher shares in the dimensions of "financial management and organization" (57.4 percent), "learning and skill development" (56.7 percent), and "individual and social empowerment" (59.5 percent). This underscores the role of higher education in strengthening managerial abilities, developing new skills, and reinforcing social capital. Based on the findings, developing sustainable digital infrastructure in villages, organizing short-term training workshops in digital marketing, and creating joint marketing platforms for handicrafts and local products are among the key recommendations of this study. These measures can reduce costs, strengthen customer trust, and pave the way for sustainable rural economic development.

Keywords

References

Akpuokwe, C. U., Chikwe, C. F., & Eneh, N. E. (2024). Leveraging technology and financial literacy for women's empowerment in SMEs: A conceptual framework for sustainable development. Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, 18(3), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.30574/gjeta.2024.18.3.0041
Amaechi, N. M., & Ossai-Onah, O. V. (2015). Utilization of agricultural information among literate women in Ihiagwa Autonomous Community, Owerri, Nigeria. Information Impact: Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 6(1), 41–50.
Anzak, S., & Sultana, A. (2020). Social and economic empowerment of women in the age of digital literacy: A case study of Pakistan, Islamabad-Rawalpindi. Global Social Sciences Review, 5(1), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-I).11
Aslam, A., Abidi, S. N. M., & Rizvi, S. S. A. (2024). Digital literacy and women's empowerment: Bridging the gender gap in technology for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies, 24(2), 93–106.
Bai, X., & Yang, L. (2025). Digital literacy's impact on digital village participation in rural left-behind women through serial mediation of political trust and self-efficacy. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 34226. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-16093-3
Booklet of Oghan International Watershed Carbon Sequestration Project. (2017). General Department of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Golestan Province. (In Persian).
Dayanand, R., Khan, Z., Kalwar, M., & Kumar, A. (2024). Digital literacy for rural women's empowerment and socioeconomic participation: A comprehensive study. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5093591
Debbarma, A., & Chinnadurai, A. S. (2023). Empowering women through digital literacy and access to ICT in Tripura. Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science, 9(1), 5–9.
Dong, S., Wang, N., Fan, C., Chen, S., & Zhang, L. (2024). E-commerce and rural women entrepreneurship: Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the comprehensive demonstration policy for e-commerce in rural areas. Economic Analysis and Policy, 83, 749–765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2024.07.018
Egbuka, N. I., Dabo, O. D., Akinyele, V. O., & Azino, O. D. (2024). The impact of digital literacy on women's economic empowerment: A study of Owerri Municipal. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 24(2), 1864–1876. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2024.24.2.3508
Elias, A. S. R. E. S., Kumi, Y., & Toyama, Y. (2022). Empowerment of women: A comparative analysis of experiences from rural communities in Ethiopia. International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development, 13(2), 5–12.
Hufad, A., Purnomo, S. N., & Rahmat, A. (2019). Digital literacy of women as the cadres of community empowerment in rural areas. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 9(7), 276–288.
Irfan, T., & Salam, M. T. (2020). Kaarvan Crafts Foundation: Embracing digital literacy for women empowerment. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 10(4), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-06-2020-0215
Iskandari, A. M. (2025). Economic development through social entrepreneurship: Case study of rural innovation hubs in Balikpapan. Mustard Journal de Ecobusin, 2(1), 41–51. https://doi.org/10.37899/mjde.v2i1.244
Javed, A., Ashraf, M. Z., & Shahbaz, S. (2025). Digital transformation and its influence on women's economic empowerment in Pakistan. Sustainable Futures, 10, 101092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2025.101092
Kavita, D., & Yashpal, Y. (2025). Digital literacy for rural women: Pathways to empowerment and socioeconomic inclusion. Journal of Scientific Research and Reports, 31(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.9734/jsrr/2025/v31i12743
Kian Poor, S., & Hajian, M. (2025). Development of digital economy, human development solution in Iran. International Journal of New Political Economy, 6(1), 47–82. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.48308/jep.2025.237697.1196
Kiarie, J., Owusu, E., & Hagabirema, G. (2025). The role of digital marketing in expanding rural markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Aurora: Journal of Emerging Business Paradigms, 2(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.62394/aurora.v2i1.185
Kumar, S., Kumar, V., & Devi, N. (2024). Digital literacy: A pathway toward empowering rural women. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-08-2023-0295
Maaboudi, R. (2025). Non-linear effect of digital economy on urban and rural income gap in Iran. Journal of Development and Capital, 10(1), 19–36. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22103/jdc.2024.22061.1416
Ma, W., McKay, A., Rahut, D. B., & Sonobe, T. (2023). An introduction to rural and agricultural development in the digital age. Review of Development Economics, 27(3), 1273–1286. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.13025
Noordin, N. H. (2024). Assessing information literacy levels among underprivileged communities. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 16(2), 85–97. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2024-16-2-7
Noor, S., & Hoque, M. (2021). Access to mobile phones and women's socioeconomic empowerment in rural areas of Bangladesh: Understanding gender relation transformation. Indonesian Journal of Social Research, 3(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.30997/ijsr.v2i3.105
Omidvar, N., & Tavakoli, M. (2023). Analysis of the rural digital literacy policy in Iran. Journal of Research and Rural Planning, 12(1), 95–109. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22067/jrrp.v12i1.2110-1028
Panda, S. (2010). Education and empowerment of women: A comparative analysis. Indian Journal of Public Administration, 56(3), 561–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019556120100313
Prastiwi, T. P., Rohmah, J. N., & Damar, D. (2025). The role of digital literacy in empowering rural communities. Empowering Communities Research Hub, 1(1), 11–18.
Radha, P., Sayyed, N., & Babu, K. (2025). The role of education in shaping women's autonomy: A comparative study of rural and urban areas. International Journal of Atharva, 3(3), 82–92. https://doi.org/10.3126/ija.v3i3.84398
Rezaei-Moghaddam, K., Badzaban, F., & Fatemi, M. (2023). Virtual social networks and rural women entrepreneurship. International Journal of Business and Development Studies, 15(2), 83–100. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22111/IJBDS.2024.47635.2086
Rowi, A. S., Wahyudi, M. A., Oswari, T., & Purwoko, B. (2024). The role of digital marketing strategies in enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty: A study of e-commerce platforms. International Journal of Business, Law, and Education, 5(2), 2778–2788. https://doi.org/10.56442/ijble.v5i2.936
Seifollahi, N., & Akbari Arbatan, G. (2023). Identifying the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy in the development of rural women's home businesses. Women in Development and Politics, 21(3), 780–806. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22059/jwdp.2023.351079.1008275
Shaikhzada, N., Rahmani, L., Asghari, T., Hosseini, M., & Quraishi, T. (2025). Challenges and opportunities for Afghan women in the digital world in Afghanistan. International Journal of Applied Research and Sustainable Sciences, 3(3), 261–272. https://doi.org/10.59890/ijarss.v3i3.5
Singh, S., Rahul, K., Paliwal, M., Wani, I. A., & Suri, S. (2025). Gendering the digital divide: A systematic review of women's digital inclusion challenges and emerging research directions. Digital Transformation and Society, 4(4), 503–531. https://doi.org/10.1108/DTS-04-2025-0083
Stojanova, S., Cvar, N., Verhovnik, J., Božić, N., Trilar, J., Kos, A., & Stojmenova Duh, E. (2022). Rural digital innovation hubs as a paradigm for sustainable business models in Europe's rural areas. Sustainability, 14(21), 14620. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114620
Tamang, S., Mishra, A., Vishwakarma, A., & Yadav, A. (2025). Impact of digital literacy on women empowerment with special reference to Uttar Pradesh, India. Abhigyan. https://doi.org/10.1177/09702385251379161
Tao, S., Wang, Q., & Zhu, T. (2025). The role of e-commerce in promoting sustainable local employment in rural areas: Evidence from China. Sustainability, 17(12), 5641. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125641
Teymouri, A., Mohammadi Kangarani, H., Moayeri, M. H., & Shahraki, M. (2025). Challenges of conservation management of Hyrcanian forests from the perspective of stakeholders (Case study: Golestan Province). Integrated Watershed Management, 5(2), 129–146. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22034/iwm.2025.2042075.1176
Social Business Journal
Volume 3, Issue 2
June 2026
Pages 67-88

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics