Abstract
This article presents a case of the gender digital divide in the use of mobile phones in a small community of Latino immigrant farm workers in Southeast Ohio in the US. Contrary to the findings of previous studies that rural women around the world are using information and communi-cation technologies (ICTs) for empowerment, this research reveals that immigration status interacts with gender and class identities such that Latina immigrant women who work in horticulture nurseries face limits of access, use, and distribution of knowledge for their own purposes and needs. The findings suggest that mobile phones are not inherently empowering to women, and under specific circumstances such as un-documented migration, they can serve as a device that strengthens hierarchical power relations between women and men.
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