Feminist talk

With the introduction of Threads by Meta, there's a need to question whether adding another social media platform to the list of online spaces contributes to the existing problems that women face on the internet, or is it a step in the right direction?

Women gamers in Pakistan struggle to play safely amidst increasing online harassment they face in online gaming communities in the country. Momina Mindeel speaks to some women gamers to understand the extent of this violence and the strategies they employ to remain safe.

Habash from Egypt explores the relationship between feminism and blockchain technologies in a curious and critical review of possibilities emergent in DAOs and DisCos. They accompany us through several iterations and thought experiments on political organisation and theory in the realms of web3.

Journalist, Yara el Murr, from Lebanon presents a case study of kotobli, a book discovery platform that counters colonial algorithms used in searching for books about the SWANA region. She details how Big Tech favours publishers and authors from the Global North and presents the challenges and opportunities of working with local publishers and authors to change this.

Open-source advocate from Jordan, Raya Sharbain, makes the case for digital self-defence to support sexual rights and reproductive justice movements amidst growing crackdowns and threats. She elaborates on use of secure and protective technologies to share and access information critical to feminist movements.

Tunisian researcher, Afef Abrougui, writes about the perils of AI-enhanced technologies deployed by authoritarian regimes in the region towards increased surveillance and predictive policing. She raises important questions about the readiness of civil society in the MENA to respond to these dangers and what is needed to preserve privacy and human rights in the coming…

E-governance models are leaving women and gender minorities behind in Kenya, despite the increasing focus of the Kenyan government to digitise delivery of government services. Due to this, there remains a challenge of who gets to access these services through technology. Cecilia Maundu explores ways to bridge these gaps.

Technology is constantly evolving everyday, with new advancements in models like artificial intelligence that on one hand claims to help humans in making tasks easy, but on the other hand, it reinforces harmful societal stereotypes. In this article, Beatrix Kondo explores the portrayal of gender through AI in pop culture and how it has been seen in still-new AI chatbots.

The international forensic community still fails to develop tools and techniques to address women’s needs. Carl, from Marialab, explores how feminist activists in Brazil are working on frameworks for teaching and applying computer forensics in cases of gender-based violence online.