access

A feminist internet can mean many things, it means that everyone has affordable, unconditional, open, meaningful and equal access to the internet; it means acknowledging that attacks, threats, intimidation, and policing experienced by women and queers is real, harmful, and alarming; it means that the right to free expression for women and queers; and it includes principles on access, movements…

Access is a right. In June this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution that condemns "measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or dissemination of information online" and affirmed that "the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online." But what does access really mean? How important is it to women, especially to marginalized women?

Why are there less women in technology or ICTs? The participation of women in building technologies is a complex and difficult issue to address. It ranges from the field of public policy to cultural and social practices that do not facilitate the inclusion of women in this field of knowledge and appropriation of technologies with a gender perspective. This article addresses the problems that…

No group of individuals has been as severely restricted, with respect to their reproductive rights, as women with disabilities. Located overwhelmingly in the global South, where most disabled people live, women with disabilities encounter levels of multidimensional discrimination that are unparalleled by other groups in the world.

This Action Plan sets out the framework for critical actions to foster and accelerate inclusive and sustainable development by closing the digital gender gap and harness the transformative potential of ICTs for women’s empowerment.

New research by the Web Foundation shows that the dramatic spread of mobile phones is not enough to get women online, or to achieve empowerment of women through technology. The study, based on a survey of thousands of poor urban men and women across nine developing countries, found that while nearly all women and men own a phone, women are still nearly 50% less likely to access the internet than…

A gender digital divide has been recognised since the 1990s. It's old news that there are gaps when it comes to women being able to easily, safely and affordably access technology. There are statistics, research evidence and anecdotal stories that support this. Although some efforts have been made to address this access gap, there is still a persistent and evident gender digital divide.

Shawna Finnegan and Emilar Vushe, who are the part of the Association for Progressive Communication's policy programme, engage in a conversation about their highlights of this year's Internet Governance Forum (IGF). They speak about the value of the IGF as well as barriers to access it, national and regional initiatives, and some of the biggest internet governance issues right now, such as…

The word “internet” is not well understood in its full and wholesome context by a size-able number of Ugandans and perhaps the majority. Smart phone usage has grown tremendously and with it the gospel of this thing called the internet. Of course with smart phones come the popularisation of social media and the applications that simplify internet use and access. It would seem that internet…

Ahead of the launch of our Women’s Rights Online research, this series of guest blogs features on-the-ground perspectives from each of our research partners around the world. In this post, Irene Murungi, Gender Policy Officer at Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), talks about why it’s important to get more Ugandan women online and involved in internet policy debates.