Feminist talk

Sanitary Panels is an ironic yet hard hitting series where social commentary masquerades as humour and makes us rethink many of our assumptions. In this comic Sanitary Panels looks at the difference that women and men achievers face and what assumptions are imposed by social and cultural ideas around gender.

How do we measure the difference between access to the internet for men and women? It is without a doubt that such gender internet access gap indicators contribute to defining goals for international and country-level policies. But it is important for us to interrogate the role of indicators and measures in access related work and research. Nic Bidwell analyses the use of tools proposed to…

Sanitary Panels is an ironic yet hard hitting series where social commentary masquerades as humour and makes us rethink many of our assumptions. This comic explores aspects of gender and technology including discrimination faced by women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and careers. In this comic Sanitary Panels looks at how police and society react when women…

Online violence and harassment mirrors the realities of persecution in the "real world" and extends the avenues for prejudice and discrimination. In Egypt, outspoken activists and Nubian people supporting the cause of Nubians to their own land and also speaking out about race and skin colour-based prejudice face virulent online attacks and are also banned by the Egyptian government.

Twitter, in particular, can be a powerful tool for women to make connections and express themselves - from high-level female politicians to journalists, activists, writers and bloggers, to women who simply want to know what’s happening around them. It is allegedly the space where ‘every voice has the power to impact the world’. But as revealed by the report by Amnesty International, Twitter is…

In recent times there has been a dramatic increase in the use of internet and social media by Palestinians. In this context there is also a rising wave of online gender-based violence that leads to intimidation of women and self-censorship, which means that often women are withdrawing from social media platforms that are an arena of political and social confrontation against the Israeli…

On 24 May 2018, the Office of the Human Rights Commission, United Nations put out a statement that the Indian government has a duty to protect its citizens and journalists from threats and in particular about the severity of threats against Rana Ayyub, journalist and writer based in India. This article looks at the severity of violence faced by the journalist, including physical threats, doxxing…

In this report back from AfChix TechWomen Summit 2018, Kazanka Comfort talks about the inclusion of young women in science and tehcnology programs in university, discussions around the possibilities offered by community networks to own and manage infrastructure by the people. In particular Kazanka looks at how women are affected by sectarian conflict and working with ICTs and training in…

Sanitary Panels is a comic that explores aspects of gender and technology including discrimination faced by women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and careers. Here is an ordinary scene at a coffee-shop.

In this column on community networks and gender, the writers will explore how communities can provide and run their own internet infrastructure, the existing forms of community networks, the legal and policy environment in which they have to exist and what are the gender dynamics around these networks. The first column asks a fundamental question - what would be the costs of women NOT having…