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Impact of ICTs on women's participation in public and political life. Association for Progressive Communications Women ’ s Rights Programme, January 2012. Who we are / what we do. International network of organisations using ICTs for social justice – 43 members around the world
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Impact of ICTs on women's participation in public and political life Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Rights Programme, January 2012
Who we are / what we do • International network of organisations using ICTs for social justice – 43 members around the world • Womens rights programme & ICT policy programme • Women’s rights programme – violence against women, sexual rights, evaluation
What is the issue • Information and Communication Technologies ICTs are not gender neutral – produced, used and distributed in a context of unequal power relations • For marginalised groups with access, ICTs present possibilities to construct, deconstruct and reconfigure both their own identities and the structures – whether government, media or social – within which they live • ICTs also enable new forms of discrimination, violence and exclusion
What are our entry points? • Women and marginalised communities are a key interest group in how the internet is governed, yet are are largely absent from spaces where decisions are made • When we access the internet it is with all of our civil and political rights intact • Norms and values offline are reflected online including – in discrimination and exclusion and in responses
Shifts and nuances • Internet governance • Anonymity • Privacy and consent • New actors • Defining harm • No recognition for extended notions / extended definitions of ‘personhood’ • Interaction as workers, content producers, ‘ordinary’ users
Opening new possibilities • Public participation – Tahrir bodyguards, rape of black lesbians in SA • Organising – Meem • Subversion – Pink Chaadi, Uprising of Women in Arab World • Expanding citizenship • Performing identity, negotiating restrictions
Closing down spaces • Shut downs – DRC October 2012 • Censorship, regulation and pornography • Misogyny and hate speech • Rape videos, privacy and consent • WHRDs – Egypt, Uganda • Defining harm, mobilising anxiety • Double standards of prosecution
Who are the actors • Individual users - norms and values (Technical community; Opus Dei - .fam) • Private sector - no transparency on regulations & enforcement - tracking technologies & privacy control - privatisation of access • State - protection vs rights framework
Recommendations • Extending definitions of personhood • Expanded debate on ‘right to forget’ • Engaging private sector • Engage in internet governance eg IGF • Indicators for CEDAW report cards • Post-2015 development agenda • WSIS +10