GenderIT.org feminist talk

This piece is part of a series where Julia Keseru explores the connection between our online systems and bodily integrity, and the long term effects of digital innovation on our collective well-being.

During the lockdown in India, the circumstances of marginalised population groups, including gender and sexual minorities (GSM), has worsened. Community and peer support has been critical, but in many cases it depends on phone and/or internet connectivity. The author wonders if informed choices regarding internet usage is possible in this context.

Once upon a time, not long ago, in a village in southeast Brazil, women came together to exchange information and learn collectively about the influence of technology on their lives and on the spirit of the community. In the process, they learned something of great value.

New changes to Poland's abortion law could effectively ban abortion. Online protests have been building momentum to counter the force of the government, even as the pandemic rages on in Europe.

GenderIT and Locnet invited women who work in CNs to share their experiences in the times of COVID-19 and their reflections on what these times have revealed around centering meaningful communication in their physical and digital communities. This is the second part of the stories that got to be told about the acts of care in communication technlogies under the pandemic.

Through awareness-raising work groups organised by Pamoja Net in DRC, women and girls learned how to participate in the network and to access and verify health information through a telephone helpline and a chatbot.

In this second post in a series on artificial intelligence, research in the African context, Chenai shares why she believes that a feminist approach to research around AI is the only way.

Design justice advocates for processes of design that do not extract or appropriate the knowledge of users but build systems and software that are of use to them, rather than to companies and designers themselves. In this review of the book on design justice by Sasha Constanza-Chock, there is a call to subvert and upend the process of designing and to make it about justice rather than efficiency or efficacy. 

Recent reports reveal that hundreds of people experience sexual harassment and abuse on Tinder and damningly, that Tinder largely ignored survivors. What is the legal and ethical obligation that dating platforms have when their platform is repeatedly used by sexual assaulters to prey on women and others? 

In this article, Nyx McLean calls for a diverse representation of LGBTIAQ+ people and issues in the conversations around the internet, and for the adoption of an intersectional approach to organising the IGF.

GenderIT and Locnet invited women who work in community networks to share their experiences in the times of COVID-19.. This is one of the stories that got to be told about the acts of care in communication technlogies under the pandemic.

A beautiful essay that explores how to navigate the complexities of sexuality and personhood for Ethiopians, and how the traditional form known as qene or wax-and-gold is the perfect metaphor for negotiating and living dual realities.

Feminist activists have played an important role in raising issues around freedom of expression and especially in the internet rights community; also in pointing out how internet rights of those marginalised on account of gender, sexuality, gender expression are even more precarious. But where is the funding for feminist work on technology and infrastructure?

In the third part of the webcomic "The footprint of the Internet", Nadège tells us how green washing hides the complex intersections between technologies, territory and capitalism. But the resistance and self-determination of communities persists...

Ani Hao interviews Bárbara Paes, a young Brazilian feminist, co-founder of Minas Programam. In this conversation they delve into Black feminist activism in Brazil, feminism funding and the co-optation of gender issues in technology spaces.

A three part series that dives into the concerns around privacy and data in Africa in the context of artificial intelligence and also covid-19 from a feminist data justice perspective.

Inhabiting internet causes a huge footprint on land, nature and bodies. An impact that can be violent and abusive. But we can learn how to create a more attentive and sensitive relationship with digital technologies.

All over the world, prisons are potentially ground for the spread of the COVID-19 contagion, but another factor at play is the role of repressive governments at this moment continuing to imprison activists. This article looks at what prisoners can still access from jail and the effectiveness of online "visits" for prisoners from their lawyer and families in India.

Education going online has posed a series of challenges especially for those living in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world where widespread access to the internet is not a given. This article explores how the Zambian government must show a stronger commitment and take measures to address how girls can access online education.

LGBTQIA+ people are often already isolated, invisibilised in their families and sometimes also facing abuse. In this article, mental health professionals speak about the vulnerability of these groups and people during the lockdown and how fragile links of community and support are still being built.