Asia-Pacific

What is the value of the internet in the exercise of sexual rights? From 2008 to 2010, the EROTICS research sought to answer this question, aiming to bridge the gap between policy and legislative measures that regulate content and practice on the internet, and the actual lived practices, experiences and concerns of internet users in the exercise of their sexual rights. The summary report provides…

“How exactly GEM can influence the discourse at the CSW, I think it is really to challenge the notion of development, or at least how governments understand it. “ The APC’s Angela Kuga Thas speaks with GenderIT.org editor about the Gender Evaluation Methodology, what it is and the value it adds to grassroots work on gender and ICTs.

Lalaine P. Viado reports on the “Workshop on Strengthening National Capacities to Collect Violence Against Women Statistics in the Asia-Pacific Region” which took place on 20-21 September 2010 in Bangkok. The workshop is part of inter-regional efforts to develop indicators to measure violence against women.

Jessica Umanos Sotos explores why specific law is needed in the Philippines to prosecute perpetrators of violence against women through the use of ICTs or cyberspace. She argues that national ICT institutions and private companies’ policies cannot remain blind to the violations to women’s rights perpetuated via ICTs in the context of the violation of privacy rights through the illicit production…

When I was a trainer at a media and gender workshop in 2002, the only male participant there confessed, “Our organisation is not prioritising gender actually. We are more concerned about other issues – issues which are political”. This statement reveals much about the stand that most media institutions take on gender.

Chim Manavy examines how growth of the internet is pushing the limits of a society's attitudes towards acceptable media images, through exploitative use of images taken for private consumption. Technology is moving across boundaries faster than the law can address. At the same time, ICT use in general, much less awareness of how ICTs can be strategically used to combat violence against women, is…

Jac SM Kee and Sonia Randhawa highlight forms of VAW that have received recognition in Malaysia and provide the context of ICT development and national policy objectives in this paper. It is not an exhaustive assessment of the current state of VAW, but rather aims to surface some of the interconnections between ICT issues and VAW and areas of potential opportunities for advocacy, as well as…

This article examines the relationships that exist between gendered access to education and the ways in which mobile phones, fixed phones, and the Internet are perceived and used in a rural and an urban Bhutanese community. The findings, organized by levels of literacy, reveal similar patterns in ICT perceptions and use across the two communities.

Namita Malhotra examines in this paper, the discourse of pornography in relation to the internet in India. She interrogates the Indian women's movements negotiation with issues around sexuality and censorship, as well as the various legislative, cultural, and ethical debates that intersect around this issue in recent years.

Edited by Sophia Huyer and Nancy Hafkin, this book collects essays by Sonia N. Jorge, Shafika Isaacs, Shoba Arun, Richard Heeks, Sharon Morgan, Maria Garrido, Raul Roman, and Vikas Nath on the current landscape of gender and ICT. According to Claudia Morell, the book "provides an excellent overview of the critical issues addressing the global participation of girls and women in today's…