Feminist talk

What lies behind the fears of digital identity? The experience of the Huduma number in Kenya

Posted Thu 30 May 2019 - 06:03 | 9,140 views

The rollout of the Huduma namba is taking place over Kenya. This article traces the experience of one young woman Nyangi as she tries to get a card, and more broadly the problems and hurdles posed by the system of digital identity.

In depth

Gendering of Development Data in India: Post-Trans Act 2019

Posted Mon 27 Nov 2023 - 21:00 | 259 views

Against much uproar from the transgender community, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 was enacted by the Government of India in December 2019 to recognise and protect the rights of transgender persons. Opposition from the transgender community was due to several problematic provisions in the statute including the demand for surgical intervention…

Feminist talk

Identity Crisis: Roadblocks in Women's Access to Basic ID Documentation in Pakistan

Posted Mon 11 Sep 2023 - 03:43 | 317 views

Women make up half the population of Pakistan, and yet they're routinely denied access to identification documents based on patriarchal and archaic policies that reject any sense of autonomy over their personhood independent of men around them. Zainab Durrani speaks to some of the women who were subjected to these policies.

Feminist talk

Transgender Act in India: A law that replicates existing challenges with digitisation?

Posted Thu 15 Jul 2021 - 17:14 | 7,183 views

In India, the digitisation drive of services interlinked with offline violence, marginalisation and stigma make it almost impossible for transgender persons to be considered as people who deserve equal rights. Through the provisions mentioned in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, this article gives us a glimpse of human rights violations and denial of a life with dignity…

Feminist talk

The identity predicament: a story about statelessness and the fight for denied rights

Posted Thu 15 Jul 2021 - 16:27 | 2,389 views

The system of integrated biometric database in Kenya, Huduma Namba, exposes multilayered challenges of statelessness, loss of basic human rights and availing government services. Through conversations with Mariam, a Nubian woman, we learn about the tedious and extremely long waiting period to obtain an ID card, without which people from ethnic minorities are not counted as citizens, and are…

Feminist talk

Resisting Aadhaar, Resisting Islamophobia: A critical look at debates and litigation around Aadhaar

Posted Wed 19 Jul 2017 - 03:25 | 6,234 views
As the Supreme Court of India determines the contours of the right to privacy and who in Indian territory has it, Mythri Prasad-Aleyamma critiques many of the assumptions around the opposition to Aadhar. This critique is grounded in the differences of how surveillance and privacy are known and experienced by those who are vulnerable for varied reasons, but especially those who are migrants or…