Muslim minority women in Greek Thrace : from house-cocoons to e-learning-butterflies

Abstract

Information communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet influence many people have a global geographical coverage and are dynamic in terms of access to education, knowledge, information. They facilitate access to new processing technologies, new ways of learning, new ways of transferring knowledge, new ways of communication and understanding. This paper focuses on the efforts of Muslim minority women in Thrace, residing in the North-Eastern Greek province. There is much evidence of an increase in participation of female students in public and minority schools in Greece during the past years, their success in graduating from Greek universities and the adaptation of Muslim minority women to the information age. This paper is grounded in qualitative research that examined the views of Muslim women regarding their access to education and e-learning. It also presents data from interviews with Muslim minority women who have continued their studies through e-learning lessons in Turkish universities, in order to receive degrees for higher levels of education beyond primary school levels. Included also is a quantitative analysis of the factors that influence their use of new technologies, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).