What is Universal Access

Public information technology, as a term, implicitly suggests universal access by citizens to information through the use of technology. The concepts of social capital and the digital divide intersect in access to public information technology. Social inclusion or exclusion occurs as a consequence of the ways in which societies are stratified according to race, gender, (dis)ability, ethnicity and class. This chapter focuses on one aspect of stratification, gender and theorizes the gendering of differential access and use of information technologies. An understanding of gendered participation relevant to access to public information technology within the policy contexts for electronic government and social inclusion is important to inform public information technology policy, and service planning and delivery that are premised on the notion of universal access.