Women’s educational, digital and social inclusion in the countryside of Paraíba: an experience at UFPB

Abstract

This paper discusses issues of access to higher education and women’s digital inclusion. Research subjects are female students from three distance-learning undergraduate programs for teacher training offered by Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB) Virtual: Portuguese Language and Literature, Education, and Agricultural Sciences. The research was qualitative and exploratory, focused on a gender perspective, and combining documentary and empirical approaches. The method employed was the discursive textual analysis of a material composed of various types of narratives. The theoretical framework included contributions from Cecília Castaño, Fúlvia Rosemberg, Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, among others. The narratives collected and analyzed indicate that some women have simultaneously access to higher education and to information and communication technologies (ICT), through distance learning (Educação à distância – EaD), which allows for a rebuild of their identity and empowerment. Thus, EaD may be an enabler of digital inclusion, contributing to diminish the gender digital gap.