Indepth

Information…

Are you troubled by pornographic materials on the internet? Do you consider it damaging? Or is it a valid expression of fantasy orof diverse forms of sexualities? Have you been harmed by sexually explicit and/or violent content through information and communications technologies? How have you dealt with this in your own use of the internet, mobilephone etc.?

Sylvie Niombo, APC-Africa-Women Co-Coordinator, examines a role of information and communication technologies in the fight against female circumcision, a harmful practice carried out on over a hundred million girls and women in West African countries. She explores 'shadow areas' through a closer look at thus launched a research programme “Contribution of information and communications…

When it was reported in mid-May 2007 that a Uruguayan woman was being put on trial for having an abortion, many people paid little notice. After all, abortion has been classified as a crime in the country’s criminal code since 1938. Others, however, were outraged by the news and turned to information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a tool for organising, protesting, and putting the…

Civil society entities, academic figures and government officials met in Sao Paulo during the first few days of July to participate in the first seminar of the preparatory process for the meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, with the aim of developing proposals to take to that forum next November. Amongst the presentations, the talk “Internet governance and issues of gender” by gender and…

Is there a direct connection between empowerment and access to information and communication technologies? Patricia Litho interrogates this question through the CEEWA ICT project case study in rural Uganda. She examines the conceptualisation of empowerment, and its relationship with infrastructure, skills, connectivity, access and participation.

Natalia Fernández-Diaz identifies the difficulties of understanding feminist concerns regarding the needs and potential benefits of emerging technologies in what is usually known as ‘Arab countries’. Locating the relationship between women and ICTs in women’s movements, Fernández-Diaz interrogates the concepts of technologists, producers, users, victims and indirect beneficiaries in this complex…

In the area of telecommunications, Ghana appears to perform relatively well in relation to its neighbours in the West-African region. How does it fare in terms of ensuring that gender concerns are taken into consideration whilst promoting ICTs for development? Emily Nyarko examines this question through a closer look at the Strategic Document for ICT and Gender in the national ICT policy agenda.

Uruguay has one of the highest rates of internet coverage in Latin America, but studies that demonstrate this fact is gender-blind. So what have been the experiences of Uruguayan women with new technologies in relation to the three basic dimensions of any digital inclusion initiative, connectivity, education and infrastructure? This article is translated from the original version written in…

Dafne Sabanes Plou is the regional coordinator for Latin America for the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (WNSP). In mid-March she coordinated the “Building inclusive community networks” workshop in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut Province, Argentina, in which women interested in learning about strategic uses of information and communication technologies took part. This is an account of the…