GenderIT.org
Sex is f**king serious. This (punny) statement has some truth in it and also a great deal of myth. Societal conversations around sex usually centre around the fact that it is some taboo dark powerful force not to be toyed with outside the confines of commitment or something that we simply cannot engage in without giggling like pre-teens looking through an adult magazine. The balance in engaging with sex as a normal everyday act, sometimes necessary and often messy, is more often than not miss...
I realised quickly after my first burnout that one part of self-care for myself needed to include staying away social media, email and the internet. To refresh. I didn’t understand it as an act of self-care at the time, and it certainly wasn’t the buzzword it has become today. I just knew that the simple act of unplugging myself for a day did wonders for my mental, emotional and psychological well-being. Fast forward to over half a decade later. Ironically, the most poignant and real disc...
This is an attempt to narrate the speak-out movement led by the Dalit-Bahujan women in Kerala. It is a social media-based (particularly through Facebook) campaign, that is still ongoing in Kerala, to narrativise the experiences of sexual harassment faced by Dalit-Bahujan women. These attacks had happened in their work place, within friends’ circles and political spaces. Surprisingly, the wome...
Since the beginning of time, formulas, potions, rituals and prayers, stories and musical notes have tried to grasp the vastness of life. Each one of us depicts our own world, trying to find meaning, day after day. Amidst an overwhelming ocean of stimuli, we barely filter some micro-drops that we begin to relate to as events. We categorise, attribute emotions, judge, make decisions... According ...
t will be helpful for all of us to understand the landscape in which the initiatives for mentoring women in technology exist. During my 25-year work experience I have witnessed the value of mentoring girls and women to become confident users and implementers of information and communications technology (ICT) tools and solutions. I am passionate about the girl child and I participate in me...
Pakistan is a conservative Muslim majority nation with a population of approximately 200 million, out of which almost 49% are those who identify themselves as women, most of whom have lived their entire life behind barriers fabricated by their families in attempts of protecting their honour and reputation. Concepts such as protection and honour impede women’s mobility in society - they not on...
The internet has been identified as the most powerful tool and dubbed “a global resource”, similar to how electricity changed lives in the 20th century. While internet penetration is increasing rapidly, most developing countries are still working on how to get everyone connected and at the same time coping with the need for good policies for a safer internet. With increase in usage, gaining...
In 2012, the multinational supermarket chain Target sent targeted advertisements for maternity products to women, none of whom had disclosed to the supermarket that they were pregnant. This targeting was based on the volunteered and behavourial data of its customers with regard to 25 products, which enabled Target to assign its customers an automated “pregnancy prediction” algorithmic score...
In the last five years, reports on connectivity around the world show remarkable progress: those of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recorded a year-on-year increase of 9% and 20%, respectively, in fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions, while this growth is even stronger in the global South. However, as levels of access to the internet increase, there is growing concern about ...
In the preceding three columns of this monthly series we introduced the way the Local Access Network project brings a feminist perspective to advocating for community networks in the global South, and highlighted the low representation of women in the regulatory and policy space and in regional and global movements. One of the Local Access Network project’s four activities is 'case studies an...
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