GenderIT.org feminist talk

Access to the internet and ICTs can often be about creating and finding surprising opportunities and uses. If women are familiar with smartphones and able to use them, then this is one way of ensuring that the next generation of girls are also able to access and adopt technology.

The first "Making a Feminist Internet: Movement building in a digital age in Africa" convening, held in Johannesburg in October and brought together feminists from 18 African countries. This post gathers some of their shared ideas and conversations.

What can feminists expect from the revolution of our times? In this article about the recent uprising in Hong Kong against the control of the Beijing government, we take a look at the complexities that feminists and LGBTQI+ activists have to live with, in spite of working for freedom and democracy alongside and in movements.

The internet has not fulfilled many of the optimistic expectations of the role it would play in relation to development and has, in fact, become a ground for denial of rights and voice of marginalised groups and people. But the making of a feminist internet presents the possibility of giving shape to an internet that is built on diverstiy and recognition of rights, especially those of women, gender-divesrse and LGBTQIA+ people.

What is feminist infrastructure? Our lives are determined now by technology and especially data and surveillance. How can we undermine the existing technological hegemony and rebuild infrastructures that accommodate different realities and needs through community networks?

A photo essay of a community network and the women working at the radio station and using the community network located just at the outskirts of Bangalore in India.

In this beautifully etched illustration we follow the stories of various women who are working in community networks and their journeys with technology, autonomy and self-realisation. 

Technology when used well can change lives, especially those of people with disabilities. In this review of the remarkable book by Haben, titled "Haben: the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard law", the question raised is whether feminists working with technology are doing enough about accessibility.

In 2019 the High Court of Malaya (Malaysia) upheld a fatwa ruling that bans the organisation Sisters in Islam for going against Islamic teachings. In particular, this ruling limits their use of social media. Read more to hear about the complexities of activism and speech in Malaysia for feminist groups and individuals.

The hallowed halls of academia, meaningless standards of rigour determine who can be a researcher. Would it be possible to truly undertake independent research outside of the aegis and agendas of institutions.

Research is often meant for lofty objectives of ensuring policy change, and at at the very least, it should do no harm. But what if your research is about violence - and what risks do we run when asking participants to revisit their trauma and hurt that they experienced because of online violence.

What are the complications that identity can produce in research? And when can it be fruitful - can we design solutions and technology keeping in mind the diversity of people, and seeking particularly to include those voices often less heard in technology design.

What is the difference between doing research that takes into consideration gender as a factor and being a feminist researcher. In this touching and funny letter, a researcher speaks to her younger self about naivete, idealism and ofcourse, funding. 

Community networks provide alternatives to infrastructure to access internet that is controlled by either companies or the state. In the remote area where Kondoa Community Network works, even patchy services have been helpful to ensure access to better education and medical services. 

How we organise around shared causes and beliefs has changed with the internet. This piece looks at how the internet allows leadership to be decentralised, and a response to the idea that the age of influencers is necessarily a bad thing.

The Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum just completed in July 2019 and it took place in Russia. There were very few sessions that dealt with either gender or human rights and none that addressed sexuality. At one session there were discussions on the ICT related-laws and particularly on the broad and unclear provisions that deal with online censorship.

What is the extraordinary power of storytelling and art when it comes to the liberation of personhood and sexuality. Here we explore the domino effect of telling our stories and hearing others.