In the immediate past decades, there has been a deepening technological contest in the digital media arena especially in the Global South, and rural women are the worst hit, causing them to experience economic and social inequalities which transcends place and space. Communication is life and the essence of living is justified with the ability to interact at the interpersonal and group communication levels with kith and kin.
Gender considerations and identities are reproduced and consumed through media production .Although previous studies have focused on traditional reasons responsible for gender inequalities; there exist gaps in Literature on the effectiveness of the digital media in Nigeria to birthing gender equity. Aspects of Uses and Gratification theory were adopted for this study to establish a strong relationship between Identity construction and formation, use of digital media and gender equality and development.
Operationalization of digital media in this paper comprises of text and WhatApps messages. The women in the selected communities have leapt through the forbidden gap of traditional cloaks of limitation and voicelessness to the arena of voice and power.
Data comprised sixteen sessions of focus group discussions with women in the community, eight in-depth interviews with prominent female members of the community-based associations in three selected communities, and six community meetings observed in the three communities. Qualitative data were subjected to qualitative analysis. Questions translated into the indigenous Yoruba language probed the reasons for the adoption and utilization of the digital devices/media for communication, capturing the experiences of rural women and the advancement it has brought to them physically, economically and socially. Results show from responses that women prefer the use of digital media for all communication interactions as well as for economic reasons adducing to the fact that it has bridged the inequality gap and foster tangible development.
Key words: Development, Digital Communication, Inequalities, Women.