Small thoughts around...

Where is women's "J" spot? asks Jan Moolman, making a play on the word "G-spot", in reference to Maria Suárez's (Radio FIRE) analysis of why Section J was not a priority issue at the 10-year review of the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing + 10). Moolman, in agreement with Suárez, used the word "ghetto" to emphasise that media issues and ICTs (information and…

In the article to which the ‘“J” spot’ refers, Maria Suarez explored why Section J was not a priority issue during the Beijing +10 review. Five years later, can we claim that it has happened? Or do circular ‘development’ debates continue to perpetuate the false dichotomy between ‘hard issues' such as access to water and housing and ‘soft issues’ including women’s rights to own, access, use and…

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The most talked-about aspect of the current situation in Iran, is Twitter. In the past weeks Twitter has reportedly provided opportunities for Iranian protesters to send out information during that government's refusal to allow (mostly Western) journalists to report on the aftermath of the (suspect) re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. So the hottest tweet is possibly, ironically, about Twitter…

This edition of GenderIT looks at the question of access to knowledge focussing on Africa. Over the last century, copyright and patents legislation have penetrated into most countries, strengthened by international trade agreements, and often pressure from the United States. This has had the impact of both shrinking the amount of knowledge that is freely available, and of legislating what is and…

This edition of GenderIT.org examines the issue of cybercrime legislation through a gendered perspective and its implication on women, in collaboration with  the ICT Policy Monitor Latinamerica and the Caribbean team of the Association for Progressive Communications. The focus of this edition was catalysed by issues and questions raised by our readers on the increasing pervasiveness of…

The 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) kicked off with a long line of women queuing for their official registration in front of the UN headquarters in New York. Over 5000 individuals took part in the CSW this year between 25 February and 7 March. This is one of the largest participation in the history of CSW, and illustrates importance of this year theme to women’s…

The current edition of GenderIT.org approaches the problematic issue of women´s health and its interconnection with information and communication technologies (ICTs) policies. ICTs have an enormous strategic potential to locate women at the centre of health initiatives. In an attempt to contribute to this discussion, in this edition GenderIT.org writers analyze some of the existing challenges and…

There are different dimensions to access-related issues, and there are significant points of connection between them. Factors such as gender disparity at the level of employment, education, social class, literacy, geographical location and decision making have great impact on the level of women’s access to ICTs. Gender is a cross-cutting issue with specificities that are often hidden. What are…

Content regulation is one gesture away from censorship and surveillance practices. The tension between managing content that could potentially result in harm towards a section of the population (e.g. spam) and silencing of viewpoints (e.g. lesbian issues) is not an easy one. How can advocates of women’s human rights, advocates of development, civil and political rights activists as well as…