gender digital divide
Africa this year commemorated “Women’s Month”, as March is known in a number of countries, faced with the reality of a highly gendered digital divide. That such a situation seems set to persist serves as a reminder of the need for a coordinated strategy in ensuring the inclusion of women and girls in the continent’s digital transformation. Despite having the highest growth in internet penetration across the globe, Africa remains the only continent whose digital gender gap h...
The headline in a media report of 23 March 2017 says “BJP’s social media campaign in Manipur was a hit”. According to the report, the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) kicked off a high-pitched social media campaign in Manipur on more than 100 WhatsApp groups, a number of Facebook pages, Twitter handles and Twitter channels. This proves to be true considering the result. Comparatively, in the 2012 state election, the BJP had just 2.1% of the popular vote. In 2017, the BJP’s vote share rose ...
As corporations and country leaders are propelling the world towards a digital society and information age, a large percentage of the population in the Philippines still does not have access to basic voice and SMS communication, let alone internet connectivity. With just under 70% mobile phone penetration, populations that are isolated geographically and relatively poor are often considered “...
This post reflects arguments made in a joint background paper published by the Internet Society and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) ahead of the G20 Women’s Group (W20) Summit to be held in Argentina on 1-3 October. In our digital age, internet literacy has become essential for, if not synonymous with, being employable in many fields. Information and communications...
Women20 (W20) emerged after the G20 summit that took place in Australia in 2014. It is one of the key G20 engagement groups and it supports the promotion of gender-inclusive economic growth, with the aim of promoting efforts advanced by the international community in the areas of women's economic and social participation and their financial inclusion and education. W20 works each year producing...
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 ...
The recently concluded RightsCon held in Toronto, Canada as a platform that values respect, diversity and inclusion in the digital age was a remarkable event that saw wonderful discussions and insights into the current contemporary challenges facing the globe, ranging from free expression to online rights, cybersecurity, women and gender, and ICT policies and perspectives, among others. I was a...
From 6 to 23 June, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) held its 35th session, with debates on the situation of human rights worldwide. From harassment of human rights defenders and civil society activists, to crackdowns on freedom of expression and media freedom, to the threats faced by women and girls under conflict, a diversity of issues were highlighted. As we pointed out with our ...
The emergence of the internet is touted as an opportunity for women in Africa to "play catch up" after years of being "left out" in the mainstream media. It is said that the internet is a platform of democracy and freedom where women can amplify their voices on and access critical information relating to their well being and empowerment nationally and globally. But what are African women’s re...
