Did you know that a key indicator of whether or not our children will be educated, grow up healthy and hopefully poverty-free is directly related to what a mother’s socio-economic status is?

Think about that as it relates to you, your peers, and your community and how improving technology can make an impact on us all. In developing countries, women don’t have easy access to technology; in fact, they are far behind men in using technologies we take for granted like the Internet, mobile phones and even the radio. It’s estimated that just 22% of women in Asia, 25% of women in Africa, 38% of women in Latin America and only 6% of women in the Middle East use the Internet. This lack of access negatively impacts a woman’s ability to access information about how to better themselves – and their family.

Many countries are short-sighted and don’t view a woman’s ability to work in areas other than “at home” as being essential to the overall economic growth of their community, region, or country. However, there are many studies that have found when giving a woman more control over her household/farm, she can increase the farm yields by 20% and by eliminating occupational/wage discrimination against women the GDP increases by 9% resulting in a lower poverty level and healthier families.

Did you know that the category “technological capabilities” is one of the five categories that Goldman Sachs uses in their Growth Environment Score (GES) to measure the economic growth for 181 countries? In simple terms: the higher the adoption rate of technology by a country, the faster that country could reduce its poverty level.

Recently, I saw a tweet by @StovesforRwanda referencing how any sized donation could help go towards a stove for a Rwandan woman. In my mind, I wondered how much it would cost and how they would fuel it (thinking of my nice new gas stove) and was by this high school senior, Spencer Brodsky, who was promoting  a program to help supply “fuel-efficient stoves” that could be purchased for as little as $30 each. (FYI: Spencer has raised $7,000 which purchased 233 stoves!) Spencer has also raised funds for stoves for Darfur and has been fundraising for tents for families in Haiti. (I am proud to have Spencer tweet and follow me on Twitter, he is truly a wonderful soul who gives his time to help people in need and he’s 17! I did pledge to vote for him when he runs for President…).

Getting back to educating us on why technology is not only about the bytes but can be in green areas like these fuel-efficient stoves. Fuel-efficient stoves use significantly less wood, cook food more quickly and the time saved from collecting wood and cooking gives more time back to the family so they can do more to improve their health and education. You can find out more about this project here and more about Spencer.

Other “technology” projects I read about include solar dryers to process fruits and vegetables which in turn increase the efficiency of processing dried fruits for export. Another “non-byte” technology is the treadle water pump which enables women to irrigate small plots of land from different water sources to increase their harvests and their incomes.  Of course, companies like Cisco are also well-known for their global training programs to help women improve their technical and career skills. The list goes on and on…

Did you know we can help women around the globe through programs like these and more? I was amazed to read about these ideas and more at Changemakers.com, and encourage you to spend some time and read through the different project ideas that are submitted, they are simple and doable to complex and inspiring. It’s possible to help our sisters improve their confidence and socio-economic status today; and in turn they can help their children grow up healthier and with hope of a better for tomorrow.

Stephanie Piche is a sales and marketing professional with over thirty product launches from software and mobile apps to social networking communities like MomTV and her latest endeavor, Mingle Media TV, where she and others hosts start daily live streaming video conversations from parenting to special causes. Follow her on Twitter at @thedigitalmoms.

Discuss Mommy Movement at the forum or click here to learn more about a stoves project in the Changemakers maternal health competition.

There are many highly intelligent women in developing countries as there are in other countries. It's just that we don't "see" much of them in our own world because there's already more than enough to see right where we are. I believe that technology has played a big role in giving us a better glimpse of what it's like in other countries. Technology gives us the ability to open more people's eyes regarding what else is out there and how things can be further developed. And, technology can definitely promote the abilities of other women in developing countries.

I look forward to hearing ideas from individuals and organizations regarding how they plan to make technology more accessible and available to women in developing countries. Recently, Apple revealed their latest creation, the iPad. I do love Apple products, and I would like to see, touch, and hold an iPad so that I can have a better idea regarding what it can do for me and others. In case you haven't watched their promotional video, I've embedded it here. And in case you haven't noticed, I did not see any females speaking at any point in the video. I don't consider this as an attack against Apple. What I would like to see, however, is a follow-on video by Apple showcasing how other women in developing countries are developing cool apps for their newest creation or even simply testimonials by these women regarding how the iPad can help them in further developing their technical skills and/or business acumen.

So my point is - let technology do its work. Let it prove a point that women in developing countries are capable and that they can greatly contribute to economic advancement across the globe.

Jasmine Guevara is a Management Consultant by day and a Social Media Observer, Accidental Blogger, and Community Connector in between. She blogs about Social Media and the Community at Community Connect, as well as discusses the "aha's" of life and parenting at the ahaBlog.

Discuss Mommy Movement at the forum or click here to learn more about how people are improving women's livelihoods through tools and technology.