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Rights . Violence . Technology - HELP US TO JOIN THE DOTS
Policies, laws and development plans on emerging ICTs rarely take into account the reality of violence against women in its creation and implementation. Similarly, policies and laws on violence against women rarely take into account the dimensions of emerging ICTs. How have developments in information and communications technologies strengthened the efforts to end violence against women? How has it enabled violence against women to happen? Help us to join the dots.
Draw the story of how violence against women and ICTs link in your spaces. The closing date for submissions is 17 May 2010.

Reaction to the Gender Findings from Africa’s Access to Knowledge Research
GenderIT.org writer and a Research Officer at Canada`s International Development Research Centre, Kathleen Diga tracks the journey of the African Copyright & Access to Knowledge (ACA2K)research network to better understand the nature of African national copyright environments and their impact on equal opportunities for all citizens to access information, particularly in the realm of education. The author argues that the ultimate development goal of copyright law is to afford equal access to educational learning materials regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, disability or age. The law must be flexible in order to recognize existing or potential discrimination against vulnerable groups. For example income constraints are likely to discriminate against women more than men in efforts to access educational materials. It is a follow up to a previous GenderIT.org article, University women struggle for knowledge access in Africa.[1]

Violence against Women and Information Communication Technologies: Philippines Country Report: The nexus of violence against women (VAW) and information, communication and technology (ICT)
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 and distribution of private and intimate activities. The violation of privacy rights comes in the form of sex-video scandals via telephony and internet. She also documents how, although there are no available studies on how other forms of violence such as stalking or sexual harassment and even direct threats are figuring as VAW via mobile phones, these violations are believed to be widespread.

Read abstract of the paper below. Full paper will be available for download soon.

Violence against Women and Information Communication Technologies: Pakistan Country Report
Access to mobile technology is increasing rapidly in Pakistan, and women are also gaining access, albeit at a slower rate than men. Kyla Pasha examines how mobile technology is ripe for use in strategies of empowerment, as long as access to technology is accompanied by training and orientation.

Read abstract of the paper below. Full paper will be available for download soon.

Violence against women and ICTs in the Pacific Islands region: An overview
Sonia Randhawa interviews FemLINK Pacific coordinator Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls to get an overview of violence against women in the Pacific Islands region and to look at how ICTs are contributing to increasing the vulnerability of women and providing new forms of harassment and harm, while at the same time grassroots initiatives such as a mobile community radio station are helping to provide women with tools for building self-confidence and information on what to do in times of crisis.

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Violence against Women and Information Communication Technologies: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Country Report
In the context of a country with one of the world's worst human rights records, women and girls are the victims of sexual violence perpetrated mostly by combatants from both sides. However, Sylvie Niombo finds in this paper that the intersections between violence against women and girls and ICTs in the DRC are not well established. The internet makes it possible to share experiences and receive information to advance the cause of women’s rights but can facilitate violence towards Congolese women and girls. A lack of confidence in the legal system and the strong presence of men in the judiciary make women unlikely to seek help from the courts, but there is growing mobilisation of women and human rights organisations in the fight to end violence against women (VAW) in partnership with the United Nations and international organisations.

Read abstract of the paper below. Full paper will be available for download soon.

Violence against Women and Information Communication Technologies: Congo Country Report
In Congo, Sylvie Niombo explores the intersection of VAW and ICTs, where mobile phone use appears to be the primary vehicle used to perpetrate VAW using ICTs. SMS and phone calls are used by some men to harass women and girls. Male monitoring of women’s use of mobile phones leads to blurring of privacy issues and power relations between men and women are reflected by who has the resources to buy cell phones. Mobile phones are also used by young people to disseminate pictures of naked girls.

Read the abstract of the paper below. Full papers will be ready for download shortly.

TIC : Femmes, logiciels libres, copyrights, …les oubliés du législateur et du décideur mauritaniens
Les logiciels libres sont une vraie solution aux problèmes de fracture numérique qu’engendre le sous -développement. En effet, il est désormais indéniable qu’ils ont, avec l’implication des femmes et leur prise en compte comme actrices incontournables, une part importante à jouer dans la création d’un environnement favorable à un développement équitable et durable.

Les droits d’auteur et les brevets limitent–ils l’accès aux connaissances et au traitement du VIH/SIDA en Afrique?
Le dernier rapport de 2008 de l’ONUSIDA confirme que l’Afrique subsaharienne reste la région du monde la plus sérieusement affectée par le VIH, et représente les deux tiers (671%) du total des personnes vivant avec le VIH et les trois quarts (75%) des décès dus au SIDA en 2007. Environ 1,9 million de personnes ont été nouvellement infectées par le VIH en Afrique subsaharienne.

Copyright? Copyleft? Why does it matter? An interview with Heather Ford
GenderIt writer Mavic Cabrera-Balleza interviewed Heather Ford, Founder of the African Commons Project, a South African NGO with the goal of mobilizing communities through active participation in collaborative technology. Ford has worked in the fields of internet policy, law and management in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. She sheds light on some of these issues.

ICTs: Women, free software, copyrights,… forgotten by Mauritanian legislators and decision-makers
Fatma Mint Elkory Oumrane takes a look at the progress Mauritania is making in encouraging open access to materials, its copyright regime and how these impact on women. She examines the role of women as ICT graduates and looks at how the government is helping overcome the various digital divides - and the large amount of work that remains to be done.

Access to Knowledge in Emergency situations: Looking at the situation in Jordan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Sonia Randhawa interviewed with Lulu Mitshabu and Daoud Kuttab. Lulu Mitshabu is the Africa Programs Coordinator at Caritas Australia. A Congolese woman, she travels through Africa regularly and is responsible for their Congolese programme. Daoud Kuttab is president of AMARC Middle East and North Africa, and responsible for setting up Jordan's first community radio. He has recently been working with women to help establish the region's first women's community radio station – which has just had its application for a license rejected by the Jordanian authorities.

University women struggle for knowledge access in Africa
The future female leaders of Africa are up against major barriers to knowledge access, which could mean lost opportunities in university learning and teaching the state-of-the-art research most necessary for academic success. Online academic journals, and university textbooks are a few of the important resources that are part of this access to knowledge, which is pertinent particularly at the university level. Not only do students need to pass their courses, they are also encouraged to develop innovative and novel ideas informed and possibly inspired by past research work. Kathleen Diga questions whether such access of learning materials to all students and teachers at universities in Africa are fair to both women and men.

Challenges of communal copyright: Traditional and indigenous knowledge
Copyright and patents legislation has spread rapidly over the past century. This has a particular impact on indigenous women and the holders of traditional knowledge, as copyright ignores the possibility that knowledge can be held communally and has definitions of knowledge that exclude information held in a spiritual context. In this article, GenderIT writer Sonia Randhawa examines how women's lives in traditional and indigenous societies have been affected by the spread of copyright.

Do copyrights and patents limit access to HIV/AIDS knowledge and treatment in Africa?
The UNAIDS 2008 report confirms that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most seriously affected by AIDS in the world. As part of the response to this pandemic, access to information and knowledge on HIV/AIDS is vital, as disease prevention depends heavily on information. In a world where there is a price to pay for access to knowledge, to what extent do patents and copyrights limit access to information and HIV/AIDS treatment for African populations, particularly the women and youths who are the most affected? This article explores the connection between access to information, intellectual property rights and HIV/AIDS in Africa.