feminist practices of technology

The code, although open, is not neutral with respect to who contributes and for what. What happens to our contributions when we reveal our gender or sexuality? How can a project in which a significant portion of the work is invisible and not counted really be “free” and open source?

FTX has been a journey of wonder and exploration, opening and healing. An intricate weaving of lives and projects. Also hardship, saturation and tension. This year has taught us how vital it is to hold this together. Now we want to celebrate, gather around this fire and share some stories.

This article takes a look at where our hardware comes from, the electronics factories situated in primarily Asian countries, and the challenges facing the people, primarily women, who work there, and the issues that impact upon women workers in the electronics industry. Ten facts about your computer that illuminate the gendered nature of the labour that is embedded in our hardware.

In this two part report on a workshop on thinking through online harassment, Maya Ganesh of Tactical Technology Collective teases out the nuances of how online harassment takes place, technologically and socially. The article looks at what troubles and concerns us about online harassment of women, and what could be the possible new directions opened up by using a design-thinking approach. Part 2…

It is a sacred act to tell and to listen to stories. Some of our stories are rooted so deep in our cells, psyches and hearts, that it takes an act of courage to find the words to tell them. We each contain a multitude of stories that shape and make us who we are. It can also be a political act to tell a story. We conceptualise digital story telling as a recording and documentation method which…

Not being able to connect online has geopolitical and infrastructural dimensions. On the one hand, we face the challenge to defend internet as a common good, beyond the claws of Capitalism and Patriarchy; on the other hand, we encounter the possibility of creating and engaging in other landscapes. Bringing to life places (though sometimes ephemeral) like the Feminist Internet Exchange FixHub in…

Central to the toolkit is how to develop a feminist communication strategy whilst making safe and sustainable choices amongst the array of available ICT tools. Rooted in the experience and contexts of women activists in southern Africa, the toolkit links our activism and organising that happens in person and “offline” to the tools of the online world. Especially since the online world creates…

What are the emerging risks and challenges that women's rights advocates face in using technology for activism? How can we strategise to work more safely and securely online? What is the feminist politics of privacy, security and the right to participate on the internet? Join us at the Feminist Tech Exchange on 18 April 2012, just before the 12th AWID International Forum, to explore and exchange…