Feminist talk
Feminist talk is meant to be a hub for conversations between our readers and writers on topics that are related to the sometimes dry world of internet policy. It is a space for storytelling, personal essays, opinions – to challenge and inspire readers on issues and topics that are close to them. Here are the opinions, experiences and thoughts of writers from the diverse community in which we live.
Column
Mentoring women in technology: Laying out the landscape
By Nodumo Dhlamini
Equity in digital access in Africa is far from being a reality. There is also paucity of women in technology related careers and more broadly in STEM. In this column, Nodumo Dhlamini will explore the necessity for mentoring of women to make them confident users and implementers of ICT tools and solutions.
Feminist talk
If it’s not on Whatsapp, it never happened
By Sylvia Karpagam
How do we use social media in activism? Do we reflect on our practices, on the instrumental ways of referring to people and communities that is used in reports and publications? Here is a story that looks at the use of Whatsapp by activists and what it means about unacknowledged hierarchies and barriers even within progressive spaces.
Feminist talk
Gendered Reality Traps: How "Objective" Machine Learning Contributes to Intersectional Exploitation
By Smarika Kumar
Is technology neutral or is coding political? In this article Smarika Kumar explores how algorithms work in the real world, and how they are a reflection of existing biases and forms of exclusion and discrimination in society.
Feminist talk
Online Dating in Pakistan
By Hija Kamran
The rise of dating apps allows women to take control of their social life and their choices. In this article Hija Kamran speaks to many women in Pakistan about their experience of online dating, both good and bad, whether it allows for challenging of conservative social norms or it leaves women vulnerable to abuse and other risks.
Feminist talk
Netwoman: Policy and safer internet spaces for women
By Rebecca Ryakitimbo
In Tanzania, even as access to internet has brought changes to the lives of people, there is still a lot to be done to get everyone connected and at the same time ensuring good policies to lay the ground for a safer internet. Rebecca explores legal options to the non consensual sharing of intimate images of women in the country.
Column
Gender and community networks: Researching social and gender impact
By Nic Bidwell
In this fourth column on gender and community networks, Nic Bidwell looks closely at the processes and difficulties of research on the social and gender impact of Community Networks in rural places, and focuses on some issues encountered in the nitty-gritty of such research.
Feminist talk
How to use social media for activism [VIDEO]
By Nana Darkoa
Here are tips and insights on how to use social media for activism and movement-building, on how to use internet and social media to amplify your cause. In this video Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah touches on several instances of how social media can and has been used by African feminists, and especially describing popular campaigns and hashtags on Twitter
Feminist talk
Cyber violence makes internet use a gendered issue
By Koliwe Majama
Politicians, journalists and other women with public profiles face a substantial share of online harassment, bullying and violence. In this article, Koliwe Majama shows how in the context of the Zimbabwean elections, even as the internet brings the public closer to politicians, it opens up new avenues for discrediting them and their work, and reveals the patriarchal misogyny that underlies...
Column
Gender and community networks: Building a movement around community networks and gender equality
By Nic Bidwell
In this third column on gender and community networks, GenderIT interviews Carlos Rey Moreno on what movement building around community networks is all about. How do we get policy makers, organisers, community based organisations and others invested and interested in community networks? And in this constellation of actors and organisations, how do we start talking about gender equality and...
Feminist talk
[COLUMN] Gender and community networks: Busking in policy spaces
By Kathleen Diga
n this column on community networks and gender, the writers will explore how communities can provide and run their own internet infrastructure, the existing forms of community networks, the legal and policy environment in which they have to exist and what are the gender dynamics around these networks. Here we interview Steve Song about the policy and regulatory environment for community...
